Ahmed Mohamed Aka Clock Kid Lawsuit
Pretty damning accusations in the filed papers. Of course this is one side of the story only. I await the trial and news of the whole story. For better or worse. But from what we have learned so far, this is a clear case of a kis caught up in our popular prejudece-anti Muslim.
Ahmed practiced his faith, including prayer at lunchtime. Prayer by a Muslim has certain physical requirements, including touching your forehead on the ground. Ahmed would leave the cafeteria to go pray where he could accomplish what he needed to do. One day in sixth grade, the 6th Grade Vice Principal, Mr. Nguyen, saw Ahmed leaving the cafeteria and told him to go back and eat. Ahmed attempted to explain that he was going to pray, but Mr. Nguyen said to go back and eat or there would be consequences. Mr. Nguyen was suspicious that Ahmed did not really intend to pray. Ahmed was required to get a permission slip from his father as well as a certification from his mosque that he was practicing his faith. Mr. Mohamed is unaware of any Christian student required to get certification from their church before they were allowed to pray in school.
47. Mr. Nguyen was known to have racial bias. In fact, he went into at least three history classes and told the classes as a whole that his Asian children did not give him any problems. He urged that the African American and Hispanic students need to be like his children. He stated that the students were a reflection of their race and their parents.
The final disciplinary straw for Mr. Mohamed was when Ahmed, in the 8th grade, was being choked by another boy. During the choking, Ahmed tried to push the other boy off of him. As a result, Ahmed was disciplined. Mohamed filed a formal appeal of the discipline and it was dropped. During the appeal, Mohamed let it be known that he believed that Mr. Nguyen was targeting Ahmed and meting out discipline unfairly. For example, immediately prior to the complaint being filed, Mr. Nguyen called Ahmed out in front of the class, demanding to know why he was “smiling.”
50. After the complaint about Mr. Nguyen, the constant disciplinary actions ceased. Ahmed continued to try to impress his teachers and began to make real friends. He even had a best friend, who we will call John Doe. They were in the same STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) class and began to build things together. They built a robot in their robotics group. They participated in the SeaPerch challenge. The motto of SeaPerch is “teach, build, become.” In that challenge, they, along with their classmates, built an underwater robot (such as those portrayed on the website). The robot was transported on the school bus to a pool to operate. Ahmed and John became close, trading tools and giving each other parts and pieces to build things at home.
More: Clock-Boy-Lawsuit-.pdf
