President Obama in a tweet from his official personal account invited Ahmed Mohamed to the White House for an astronomy event and asked him to bring along the clock invention that teachers and police mistook for a bomb.
“Cool clock, Ahmed,” Obama tweeted Wednesday. “Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It’s what makes America great.”
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.
— President Obama (@POTUS44) September 16, 2015
Police escorted Mohamed, a freshman at MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas, from his school in handcuffs and took him into custody Monday after teachers mistakenly thought his clock was a bomb.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Obama used his Twitter account to speak out about the incident and invite him to an astronomy event involving other students interested in science because his teachers had “failed him” and based their actions on personal “biases.”
“Ahmed’s teachers failed him and here at the White House we felt like there might be a chance to reach out to this young man,” Earnest said. “He will fit in well here at astronomy night.”
Earnest also said the incident provides a “teachable moment to search our consciences for biases” and the “power of stereotypes.”
Irving police said Wednesday that it has no plans to bring charges against Mohamed after discovering that the clock was simply an invention of the student’s and posed no danger.
In addition to Obama, Hillary Clinton and celebrity Russell Simmons have used the Twitter hashtag #IStandWithAhmed to express support for Mohamed.
