A Nation Prejudiced Against the South: What Ahmed Mohammed's Case Reveals About Group Psychology, Social Media and the Rush to Judgment

A black high school freshmen named Ahmed Mohamed was arrested in Texas for bringing a clock to school. Excited about the device he'd made, he brought it in to show his teacher. Soon he was walked into a back room to face four cops who insisted he tell them what it was. When he repeated that it was a clock, they accused him of being vague and put him in handcuffs.

And at this point, the rest of the nation kicked into its own prejudice, quickly judging Texas for its quick judgment of a black Muslim kid. The Texas authorities were accused of racism. Of being prejudiced against Muslims. The rest of the nation has such narrow views of the former confederacy that it's nearly its own kind of racism. It certainly falls into the category of judging a whole group of people by stereotype.

And it turns out, the rest of the nation was wrong. The arrest of 14 year old Ahmed had nothing to do with race or religion. Texas authorities had simply heard that Ahmed's invention involved science.