Less than 24 hours after Ahmed Mohamed met President Obama, his family decided it’s time to leave America for good.
The
14-year-old Texas boy who was arrested for bringing to school a
homemade clock that authorities said resembled a bomb will soon be
living in Qatar.
“After careful consideration of all the generous
offers received, we would like to announce that we have accepted a kind
offer from Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community
Development (QF) for Ahmed to join the prestigious QF Young Innovators
Program, which reflects the organization’s on-going dedication to
empowering young people and fostering a culture of innovation and
creativity,” the family said in a press release Tuesday.
Anthony
Bond, a close family friend and the founder of the Irving, Texas chapter
of the NAACP said the family made the decision to leave the U.S. within
the last 24 hours. They have spent those hours in Washington, D.C.
where Ahmed has been on a mini-press tour in anticipation of his visit
to the White House.
President Obama personally invited the teen
after his arrest last month, reaching out to him via Twitter. The
president was one of many who spoke out about the implications of a
14-year-old Muslim boy accused of building a bomb, put in handcuffs and
pulled out a school. Once it was discovered that the “bomb” was only a
digital clock the young innovator built himself, the Irving Police said
they would not be charging Ahmed with any crime.
But the spark
had already been lit; Ahmed’s story went viral, with the hashtag
#IStandWithAhmed bringing out legions of supporters including Mark
Zuckerberg, Hillary Clinton and Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Tweets,
thinkpieces and day-time TV segments were dedicated to dissecting how
Ahmed’s situation typified racism and Islamaphobia in America.
After
withdrawing from school in Texas, the boy’s family embraced the
opportunities that came from his brush with the law. He visited the
Google Science Fair, met with Sudan’s President Omar al Bashir, posed
with the Queen of Jordan at a United Nations Summit, appeared on the
“Doctor Oz” show and last night, made it to the White House.
He
was among 300 visitors to “Astronomy Night,” a celebration of science
and learning. Bill Nye the Science Guy was there, along with a number of
standout students who have been recognized for scientific achievements
throughout the country. Though some of those students received shoutouts
during President Obama’s comments, there was no mention of Ahmed in the
audience. That didn’t stop reporters from shouting to him from behind
the rope lines: “Ahmed! How are you feeling?”
Perhaps that’s the
question that has been left out of the viral hubbub: what has this been
like for Ahmed? To go from a run-of-the-mill 14-year-old to an
international symbol for stereotyping in America?
In a phone
interview on Tuesday, Ahmed’s 19-year-old sister Eyman said he’s under a
pressure they never imagined. It can be a good pressure: “It’s like now
he’s motivated to work harder than every before,” she said. “Because
people are going to be waiting to see what happened to that 14 year old
kid.”
And a bad one: “It’s been really hard. Everything happens for a reason, but there’s so much stuff being said that isn’t true...”
Eyman
was referring to a number of conspiracy theories that appeared on the
Internet about his arrest. Most attest that the incident was a
pre-planned plot to get attention. Some of that skepticism stems from
claims against Ahmed’s father, Mohamed Elhassan, who has run for
president of Sudan and was present during a high-profile Quaran burning
in Florida. Bond, the family friend, said the conspiracies are why Ahmed
doesn’t want to go to school in America.
“Everybody’s vilifying
him, and he’s not a villain. He’s a 14 year old boy,” Bond said. “The
whole world was concerned about this, and it’s impossible that anyone
could have expected this international reaction.”
Bond said the
family is planning to move next week so Ahmed can begin school at the
Qatar Foundation, where he will receive a full scholarship. His parents
and two sisters will relocate too. The press release announcing the move
may be the last we hear from the family for a while.
