Amneh Jafari never expected to help spark an international movement. But when the senior University of Texas Arlington psychology major saw a picture on the news showing Irving teen Ahmed Mohamed in handcuffs for bringing a homemade clock to school.
This story is part of the Deseret News National Edition , which focuses on the issues that resonate with American families.
DALLAS — Fort Worth, Texas, native Amneh Jafari never expected to help spark an international movement.
But when the senior University of Texas Arlington psychology major saw a picture on the news showing Irving teen Ahmed Mohamed in handcuffs for bringing a homemade clock to MacArthur High School, it felt personal.
“It really saddened me,” Jafari said. “I have younger siblings, and I felt like I was looking at them.”
So she did what so many of us do now. The 23-year-old took out her phone Tuesday night and tweeted, creating a now viral hashtag: #IStandWithAhmed.
“I felt like I needed to, I had to,” Jafari said. “It’s something that came out.”
By Thursday night, it had been tweeted more than 1 million times. Since then, Ahmed’s story has shot into another orbit. On Twitter, President Obama invited Ahmed to the White House. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg invited him to headquarters. Even Twitter offered him an internship.
It shows the power of social media to give a voice to the voiceless, Jafari said. “To see that there’s so many good people in the world – sorry,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes. “It means so much to see so many people stand for what’s right.”
Ahmed Mohamed said the support from celebrities, politicians and ordinary citizens alike boosted his confidence. “It made me feel like I had the power to fight for others who couldn’t fight back for themselves,” Mohamed said.
The hashtag isn’t just about Ahmed, Jafari adds. And perhaps that’s why it resonates with so many people.
“It’s about all the other kids that have been discriminated against in this country – no matter what religion, race,” she said. “I feel like it also represents them, as well.”
Jafari thinks Ahmed was the victim of Islamophobia, and she says she has been, too. But she believes a simple hashtag has become a huge milestone toward creating awareness.
Irving Police Department and Irving Independent School District have said that Ahmed’s name and religion had nothing to do with the way they handled this case.
She hasn’t had the chance to meet the teen behind the hashtag yet, but Ahmed called her Wednesday. Jafari smiles just thinking about it.
“He was thanking me for everything that has happened and everything that I have done for his cause,” Jafari said. “He’s an amazing kid, and I never would have thought we would have crossed paths this way.”
(Hernandez reports for WFAA-TV, Dallas-Fort Worth)
News of police response to a boy's digital clock in Texas last week has inspired a global  in support of the youth. , a 14-year-old boy from , Texas, was arrested at his school by police after he brought a digital clock he had made to school. After news of the police response was reported, Mohamed received support online ranging from US President Barack Obama to Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg. Yesterday Mohamed received  attention at Google headquarters in California at the Google Science Fair — and tommorow he plans to meet international dignitaries at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

US President Barack Obama tweet to student 
Mohamed brought the digital clock he made to school on September 14, and a teacher mistakenly thought it resembled a bomb. Police arrested and questioned the student. Images of the boy wearing a  T-shirt and handcuffed by the police were quickly posted and reposted online.

The '''' observed that the hashtag on Twitter, #IStandWithAhmed, had become an international phenomenon. '''' noted what began as individual messages to Mohamed had grown into a "support movement". American academic and professor  commented, "Hoping that the #istandwithahmed movement translates into a substantive national conversation on race, punishment, and incarceration."

The Twitter attention led to outreach from Google and Mohamed was invited to their Google Science Fair. Mohamed was a VIP guest at the Google Science Fair this weekend, and was able to meet finalists at the event held at Google's headquarters located in , . Co-founder of Google, , personally met with Mohamed during his visit to Google.

On Wednesday, Mohamed and his father are to travel to the . His father  said he was taking his entire family to the U.N. headquarters in New York, because international dignitaries wanted to meet with his son and express their support.

Psychology major at  Amneh Jafari heard of the incident and wanted to issue her support to Mohamed. She chose the hastag #IStandWithAhmed and posted to Twitter. Jafari said she felt Mohamed had been subject to  and her hashtag created greater awareness about this issue. The hashtag took on a life of its own, and was used in messages on Twitter over one million times by Thursday night.

NASA tweeted support of Ahmed Mohamed via its account 
US President Barack Obama tweeted using his @POTUS account: "Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It's what makes America great."

Twitter gave Mohamed the option to come to their company for an internship. Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg tweeted to Mohamed and said the boy was welcome to come and tour the company.

Executive director of the Dallas chapter of the  Alia Salem said Mohamed wishes to use his newfound fame and attention to spotlight social causes including the treatment of Muslims in the United States.

 Muslim Student Association president Sehar Memon said the large amount of positive feedback for Mohamed had helped make his situation much better. Memon also said she believed the social movement in reaction to Mohamed helped improve Muslim/non-Muslim.

Both the Irving Independent School District and the Irving Police Department have asserted that the boy's religion and name were not a factor in the manner in which they approached the situation.