Remember the “clock kid”? Ahmed Mohamed, the 14-year-old from Irving, Texas became a viral phenomenon last year after he was arrested for bringing in a homemade clock to school to show a teacher, which was mistaken by school officials as a bomb. The outcry that followed shoved the teenager into the media spotlight, making him an inadvertent symbol for religious tolerance and equal protection under the law. As his story spread, his fame brought with it opportunities such as invitations to the White House, offers for multiple scholarships, and support from organizations such as NASA, MIT, and many major tech companies.

One year later, the Mohamed family is filing a lawsuit against the Irving Independent School District (IISD), his former principal, and the City of Irving for violating Ahmed’s constitutional rights.

The lawsuit highlights IISD’s alleged history of racial and religious discrimination, including many such incidents that Mohamed himself experienced involving classmates and teachers while he was a student in the school district. It also details “unconstitutional arrests” by Irving’s Police Department, which, the lawsuit claims, city officials knew about but showed “deliberate indifference” toward. The failure of officials to provide training to officers after such incidents “[led] Irving police officers to arrest Ahmed Mohamed without probable cause.”

Last November, it was reported that Ahmed and his family wrote letters to the City of Irving threatening a civil suit unless they received $15 million in damages and apologies from city and school officials. This suit did not provide specific monetary demands, only requesting a trial by jury.

Ahmed and his family moved to Qatar late last year, accepting a scholarship offer from the Qatar Foundation. However, Ahmed has expressed a desire to return to the U.S., telling The Washington Post that  he gets “bored” in Qatar and would like to study in an American college.

Both IISD and the City of Irving responded to the lawsuit to WFAA on Monday. The school district said it “continues to deny violating the student’s rights,” while the City “is prepared to vigorously defend itself” in the case.

Mariam Jaffery

Mariam was an Executive Assistant at Law Street Media and a native of Northern Virginia. She has a B.A. in International Affairs with a minor in Business Administration from George Washington University. Contact Mariam at mjaffery@lawstreetmedia.com.

The post “Clock Kid” Is Back and Suing His Former City and School District appeared first on Law Street.

Lawyers representing “clock kid” Ahmed Mohamed and his family have sent letters to the city of Irving, Texas seeking $15 million in damages and written apologies, stemming from Ahmed’s high-profile September arrest. If the city doesn’t comply within 60 days, a civil suit will be filed on Ahmed’s behalf.

Attorneys for Ahmed Mohamed, teen handcuffed for homemade clock, say he deserves $15 million https://t.co/VNrpkNCxgy pic.twitter.com/phVsH7JuPf

— CBS News (@CBSNews) November 23, 2015

As you’ll remember, Ahmed was arrested after teachers notified the authorities that they suspected the homemade clock he brought to school was a bomb–but it wasn’t, it was just a clock. Outrage over the 14-year-old’s arrest and cries of islamophobia quickly spawned into the trending global hashtag #IStandWithAhamed. The aftermath led to the Muslim teen being invited to the White House to meet with President Barack Obama and a foundation gifting him a scholarship to study in Qatar.

Despite his newfound notoriety, Ahmed’s attorneys say his “reputation in the global community is permanently scarred” and he will “forever be associated with bomb making wholly without basis” thanks to the incident. His lawyers allege that the city devised a plan to “trash Ahmed,” specifically by pushing the “false narrative that the school’s hands were tied by Texas’ ‘zero tolerance’ law on school discipline” in order to save face.

As a result they are seeking $10 million from the city and a written apology from Mayor Beth Van Duyne “acknowledging that she has never been presented with any evidence that Ahmed was a ‘pawn’ in any ‘civilization jihad’ or that the events here were planned by Ahmed’s family or friends as part of an ‘influence operation.'” They are also demanding a written apology from Police Chief Larry Boyd for Ahmed’s “wrongful arrest” and are seeking an additional $5 million and apology from the Irving School District.

Both the City of Irving and the Irving Independent School District released statements to the Huffington Post confirming that they have received the letters. However, neither one wished to make any comments on the matter besides that their attorneys are currently reviewing the information.

Since the September incident, Ahmed and his family moved from Irving, Texas to Doha, Qatar for “personal security reasons” according to the letter, after a foundation offered him a full scholarship to study there. Ahmed’s attorney Kelly Hollingsworth said the family’s desire to move back to Texas is a big part of the motivation behind the letters. Hollingsworth told the Washington Post,

Qatar is nice, but it is not Texas. That is their attitude toward this. They are citizens of Irving, Texas, USA, first. Are they devout people devoted to their faith? Absolutely. But they are Texans, too, and they want to come home. What we are seeking is for them to be able to do that with their heads held high.

The world seems split upon news of the hefty monetary requests, with some in agreement that he deserves compensation and others calling the letters a “shakedown,” rallying against the teen and his motives under #IDontStandWithAhmed on Twitter.

It’s unclear how the city and the school district will respond to Ahmed’s demands, but its certain that Ahmed’s family and attorneys are prepared to take legal action if their demands aren’t met.

Read the attorneys’ full letter to the City of Irving below:

City of Irving Demand Letter by wfaachannel8

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post “Clock Kid” Ahmed Mohamed Seeking $15 Million, Apologies from Texas City appeared first on Law Street.

There’s been a lot of hub-bub in the political Twitter-sphere lately over a young man named C.J. Pearson. He’s 13, from Grovestown, Georgia, a conservative activist, and he catapulted to fame after making a video last winter criticizing President Obama for how he has responded to terror threats. Since then he’s been a relatively recognizable name, particularly in certain online circles. But now Pearson has made a splash on a whole new level–he’s claiming that the White House blocked him on Twitter, and incited a political shitstorm in the process.

The video that first landed Pearson some notoriety was published last February on Youtube, and entitled “President Obama: Do you really love America?”

Since then, he’s kept posting videos, often criticizing President Obama or other popular progressive figures. He’s even weighed in on the increasingly tumultuous 2016 Republican presidential primary, supporting Senator Ted Cruz. He’s been on Fox News, and profiled in multiple publications including USA Today and the Washington Times. Most recently, he released another video criticizing President Obama for inviting Ahmed Mohamed, the young man who was suspended from a Texas high school after bringing in a clock that was mistaken for a bomb.

While I personally disagree with many of the points Pearson makes, it’s undeniable that he’s an incredibly intelligent, articulate, and passionate young man. As as result, he’s attracted a loyal base of fans, particularly on Twitter and Youtube.

So, when he posted this tweet yesterday afternoon, it gained a lot of traction:

Well, this sucks. pic.twitter.com/S9jESl5ybi

— CJ Pearson (@thecjpearson) September 23, 2015

It appears to show that Pearson was blocked by the official presidential Twitter account. The posting garnered plenty of uproar, with many criticizing the President for blocking a vocal critic.

However, the White House has vehemently denied that Pearson was blocked–Assistant White House Press Secretary Frank Benenati responded to the controversy via Twitter, stating:

Public Service Announcement: Nobody is or has ever been blocked from the @POTUS twitter account

— Frank Benenati (@Benenati44) September 23, 2015

After the White House chimed in, plenty of Twitter observers, conservative media outlets, and commentators continued to rally in support of Pearson, claiming that the White House was probably lying.

Now, liberal sites are claiming that Pearson is lying, pointing out issues in his story like the fact that a similar picture was tweeted out by a parody site a few days ago, and the fact that the White House would choose to randomly block a kid is ridiculous, even if he is a vocal critic of the Obama administration.

The entire thing has devolved into an incredibly stupid mess, the kind that exists only in a perfect storm of narcissism, internet access, boredom, and an election cycle. So, did the White House block CJ Pearson? Probably not–it seems a little too unbelievable and far-fetched of a story. But it’s a fun distraction from the impending government shutdown, refugee crisis in Europe, and the mess that is the 2016 primaries.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Did the White House Really Block 13-Year-Old CJ Pearson on Twitter? appeared first on Law Street.

Last week the story of 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed and his clock shed a sickening light on the prevalence of Islamophobia and racial profiling in our country. And while so many chose to #StandWithAhmed, others continued the anti-Muslim rhetoric throughout the rest of the week. The biggest culprits of this were perhaps none other than Republican primary frontrunners Dr. Ben Carson and Donald Trump.

During Sunday’s taping of “Meet the Press” Carson was asked if the United States should ever elect a Muslim president. He responded saying, “I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that.”

However when it came to electing a Muslim to Congress, Carson was a little more lenient with his bigotry saying,

Congress is a different story, but it depends on who that Muslim is and what their policies are, just like it depends on what anybody else is. If there’s somebody who is of any faith but they say things and their life has been consistent with things that will elevate this nation and make it possible for everybody to succeed and bring peace and harmony, then I’m with them.

You can watch that portion of the interview in full in the video below:

Carson’s unmistakably offensive remarks were prompted in response to some anti-Muslim comments made by an audience goer during a Trump campaign rally just a few days prior that came under fire. The unidentified audience member stood up during the Rochester, New Hampshire town hall Q&A to tell Trump the following:

We have a problem in this country. It’s called Muslims. You know our current president is one. You know he’s not even an American.

To which Trump jokingly responded, “We need this question. This is the first question.” The man continued saying,

Anyway, we have training camps growing where they want to kill us. That’s my question: When can we get rid of them?

Trump’s only response was,

We’re going to be looking at a lot of different things. You know, a lot of people are saying that and a lot of people are saying that bad things are happening. We’re going to be looking at that and many other things.

But at no point did he correct the audience member’s flawed and offensive comments.

The exchange acted as a throwback to Trump’s 2011 crusade against Obama’s heritage, where he championed the push to see the president’s birth certificate and repeatedly accused him of secretly being a Muslim. Even though the White House eventually released the president’s birth certificate to the public, showing for a fact that Obama was born in the United States, 20 percent of Americans still believe he was born outside the country and 29 percent of Americans say that they think the President is a Muslim, including 43 percent of Republicans.

Trump has never apologized.

In many respects Trump played a critical role in many American’s misperceptions about the President’s identity, so by not correcting a clearly prejudiced supporter’s offensive “Muslim question” he’s only perpetuating the problem.

When Trump was asked why he didn’t make the correction he told the Today Show,

Why should I come to the defense of the president? He’s not going to come to my defense and I think most people agreed with what I did.

The comments from both of these commander-in-chief hopefuls represent an unsettling irony among Republicans who argue in support of religious freedom, while condemning Islam in the same breath. It seems like the debate over religious freedom is fundamentally a fight for Christian freedom and nothing else. If all faiths were truly given the same respect, Islamophobia wouldn’t be running rampant in Republican ranks.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post This Week in Islamophobia: Carson, Trump, and Ahmed Mohamed appeared first on Law Street.

Ahmed Mohamed is a 14-year-old living in Irving, Texas. His hobby is inventing and creating things–but when he brought in a homemade clock on Monday, he was accused of making a bomb, suspended from school, interrogated by the police, arrested, and taken to a juvenile detention center. America: land of the brave, home of stamping out creativity in young people.

Ahmed’s sister told me to post this. Yes this situation is real for those questioning. pic.twitter.com/Oxd0JxUS6O

— Prajwol/Ru (@OfficalPrajwol) September 16, 2015

Mohamed had created a clock by linking a circuit board and digital display–a pretty straightforwad engineering project. He put it in a pencil case that had a tiger hologram on it and brought it to school to show his teachers. He thought his teachers would be impressed–and they should have been, given that I’m fairly certain most 14-year-olds don’t have the technical wherewithal to make a clock. He showed it to his engineering teacher, who told him it was “nice” but instructed him not to show it to other teachers. But when it started beeping during his English class–as clocks sometimes do–he showed it to his English teacher. She said it looked like a bomb, he argued that it was just, in fact, a clock, and he was sent to the principal’s office. A police officer was waiting for him when he got there, and apparently upon seeing Mohamed stated: “Yup. That’s who I thought it was.” Then, in Mohamed’s own words, he was brought to a room with five officers, and interrogated. They kept insisting that he had made a “movie bomb,” evidently meaning one that could be transported in a suitcase. Then, he was brought to a juvenile detention facility where he was fingerprinted and mug shots were taken. At no point during that process was this 14-year-old allowed to contact his parents. Ahmed’s explanation of events is below:

While the charges have now been dropped, the fact that the situation progressed as far as it did is reprehensible, and Mohamed’s school sent out a letter after the fact: 

Think the egregious behavior ended w/teacher/police? Think again. Parents were sent this letter: #IStandWithAhmed pic.twitter.com/OfOL8vDpWD — Imraan Siddiqi (@imraansiddiqi) September 16, 2015

My favorite sentence is this one: “I recommend using this opportunity to talk with your child about the Student Code of Conduct and specifically not bringing items to school that are prohibited,” because it puts all the onus on Mohamed, for bringing in a clock that he built. What part of his item was prohibited I have no idea, but I have an inkling it has something to do with his name, his religion, and the color of his skin.

I understand the principle of “rather safe than sorry” but “rather be ridiculously reactionary than sorry” doesn’t have the same ring to it, and that’s almost undoubtedly what happened here. There were so many easy fixes the school and the police could have taken here–including contacting the engineering teacher who saw the project, looking at the clock, or just maybe not rushing to conclusions about a 14-year-old. 

The hashtag #IStandWithAhmed is now trending on Twitter, garnering plenty of support for Mohamed.

That moment when school can’t tell the diff b/w a clock & a bomb but since the kid is brown, they arrest him just in case #IStandWithAhmed

— shannonwoodward (@shannonwoodward) September 16, 2015

White kids walk in public with weapons, brown kids are arrested for building clocks. #IStandWithAhmedpic.twitter.com/AmfwkqtvQ0

— Indian Stats (@Indian_stats) September 16, 2015

 

White kid makes a nuclear reactor? He’s a genius. Brown Muslim kid makes a clock? A terrorist #IStandWithAhmedpic.twitter.com/fEwcq7tUsr

— Farhan Khan Virk (@FarhanKVirk) September 16, 2015

I’m sad for the adults at the Irving Independent School District, who are so inundated by prejudice that they couldn’t work with Mohamed to figure out what he had brought in.  I’m sad for his classmates, who were just taught that it’s ok to rush to assumptions and terrorize a kid. And I’m sad for Ahmed, who was forced to bear the weight of other people’s ignorance this week at 14. No kid should have to deal with that–that’s why #IStandWithAhmed.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post #IStandWithAhmed: Because We Arrest 14-Year-Olds For Making Clocks Now appeared first on Law Street.