Question-raising 'thing’

The story of American teenager Ahmad Mohammad Sufi, of Sudanese origin, who was arrested by local Texan police few days ago and later invited to the White House, exactly for the same reason, is serious and revealing.

Even before his teacher(s) at the school he attended in Irving, Texas, took the time to check out what the “thing” 9th grader Ahmad brought with him to his school was, local police were at hand with handcuffs ready to bind the boy’s wrists.

Was not the time between the moment the teacher(s) suspected the “thing” and the moment of the arrest enough for that “thing” to go off, if it was really what it was suspected to be?

When it was finally and safely established that the “thing” that caused such panic was nothing but a digital clock the teenager assembled at home, reactions began to pour in from different corners.

Among those who spoke were Mark Zuckerberg, Hillary Clinton, NASA and President Barack Obama who made it a point to invite the creative boy to the White House.

Later, a Qatari research establishment offered Ahmad what he might need for a better future.

Other questions are still pending. Would the reaction of the teacher(s) have been the same if the teenager was of a different faith and his family did not emigrate from Sudan?

Does the reaction of the school administration and the police reflect the mindset of American society today?

Are the comments of people like Zuckerberg, Clinton, NASA representatives and Obama just a different ways to apologise to the American public and PR attempts to defend the American dream? 

There is certainly something wrong there that must be addressed by the American intelligentsia and guardians of the American dream.

It also sends a disturbing signal to those who admired the most important American contribution to the rest of the world.

Kind words and an invitation to the White House can never negate the fact that the American dream is taking a compulsory nap.

Saleem Ayoub Quna,
Amman