By now, the story of Ahmed Mohammed, the teenage
ninth grader, who was arrested and interrogated on
suspicion of bringing a “hoax bomb” to school is stale gist that has blown over as many of us would say. However, Ahmed’s ordeal in the hands of his teachers and police officers in Irving, Texas, USA, has once again brought the bigger problem of stereotypes and its effect on individuals, groups of people, and the society in general to the fore. Many times, people are stereotyped because of their race, religion, ethnicity, sex, skin colour, nationality or anything else the human mind can conjure up. The reality is that virtually all of us are guilty of prejudice against another person or group of people because we have a preconceived notion about who we think they are or how we feel they should be.

Ahmed is only one of the very few lucky ones whose
embarrassing situation unwittingly thrust them in the
limelight, having assumed celebrity status since the
events of September 14. Thousands of people who face
prejudice around the world daily are not so lucky. Having read different accounts of what happened at the MacArthur High School that day, I will not be so quick to vilify the teacher or principal who called in the police like many have done. I am tempted to give them the benefit of the doubt considering the history of terrorist attacks in the USA. Nevertheless, they cannot be totally absolved of blame in the matter either, as no move was made to evacuate students out of the school building as one would have expected them to do if they truly believed that the safety and security of everyone had been compromised. Which is what makes it easy for a good number of people to believe Ahmed was only treated the way he was because he is a Muslim. Particularly with the history of islamophobia and racial profiling in the Irving Texas community. Bottom line is – the Sudanese-American boy appears to have been stereotyped because of his race and religion.

Bringing it closer to home, how many times have we
tagged a man the derogatory name “Boko Haram” without even saying a word to him first simply because he is evidently from northern Nigeria? When we hear that there has been a ritual killing somewhere, what tribe do we subconsciously point accusing fingers at? Why is there a widespread belief that Ijebu people are stingy? Why is the Igbo tribe believed to be synonymous with money? Every light-skinned girl must be bleaching their skin, Yoruba men always cheat in relationships, every lady from Edo State must be a prostitute or must have been one at some point in their life. Short people always seek to be noticed, Muslims are almost always violent and all pastors are thieves who rob their congregation blind every week are all stereotypes that are common in this part of the world. This further affirms that stereotyping people is not peculiar to a particular region or race, rather it is something almost everybody does!

The problem with stereotypes is that it puts a label on
people. Stereotypes limit a person’s personality. Even in
less serious matters! How many times have we thought a guy was weird because he doesn’t watch football? (I admit that I am guilty of this too). Personally, I know a couple of people (ladies especially) who find my love for football and a few of other “manly” sports a little strange. Oh! If she’s young, unmarried and successful, then she must be warming the bed of some “Oga at the top!” If he is young and successful even though he wasn’t born with a silver spoon, then he must have peddled drugs or engaged in advanced fee fraud at one time or the other.

Stereotypes limit people in countless ways. Even the
seemingly good stereotypes are harmful. For instance; the fact that a person comes from a long line of ancestors who have always been successful lawyers almost always translates to the expectation that they must pursue law as a profession. It doesn’t matter if they have absolutely no interest in that career path and would rather be a painter. Countries like Kenya and Ethiopia are renowned for their long standing success in middle and long distance races, and so we discourage our Nigerian athletes who have the potential to give their East African counterparts a run for their money in the track event, simply because somewhere in our subconscious, we have conceded that the dominance of these two countries when it comes to long distance races will never end! A classic case of allowing a stereotype (albeit a seemingly reasonable one) to halt one’s progress.

The American Civil Liberties Union believe that Arabs,
Muslims and South Asians have been targeted for minor immigrant violations since the unfortunate September 11 attacks on the USA, thereby resulting in prejudice against people from this regions of the world…one of the reasons why many were quick to believe that Ahmed Mohammed’s case was beyond a security scare, but rather a case of a knee jerk reaction and low tolerance for the slightest semblance of wrong doing by a Sudanese immigrant.

Suffice to say that if things continue this way, it will only be a matter of time before the centre can no longer hold and a major crisis erupts.
Stereotypes do no one any good. It is always safer and
better to get to know people one-on-one before forming
an opinion about them regardless of what popular belief
says about their race, sex, nationality or religion.

http://www.punchng.com/opinion/ahmed-and-the-bane-of-stereotypes/

All muslims r potential muhajads,yes they must b on watch list. Ahmed made clock, later he'll make timebomb 4 iran or at worst isis.

resty4:
All muslims r potential muhajads,yes they must b on watch list. Ahmed made clock, later he'll make timebomb 4 iran or at worst isis.

What if he was a Christian or Buddhist or Jewish? is it not fallacious to say all Muslims are potential muja.....

White conservative radicals are still mad over this... Hypocrites, with their muh freedom of speech Drawing Mohammed contests.

Does Ahmed's device look like bomb on first impression without knowing Ahmed? absolutely.

Conservative logic: not every suitcase outfitted with an infused clock is a bomb but when youre a middle eastern Muslim the device looks more like a bomb.

You're right OP Ahmed played them on their stereotypes and cashed out. He's lucky to have gotten the attn of Obama (which is another issue ). With no bomb squad, no evacuation they knew his device was no bomb but because he was acting deviant as the school day progressed and the device beeping, interrupting one class I guess he started to look less like a science student and more like a terrorist. His earlier teachers knew it was no bomb as well...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9uoN7aers8

AAinEqGuinea:
White conservative radicals are still mad over this... Hypocrites, with their muh freedom of speech Drawing Mohammed contests.

Does Ahmed's device look like bomb on first impression without knowing Ahmed? absolutely.

Conservative logic: not every suitcase outfitted with an infused clock is a bomb but when youre a middle eastern Muslim the device looks more like a bomb.

You're right OP Ahmed played them on their stereotypes and cashed out. He's lucky to have gotten the attn of Obama (which is another issue ). With no bomb squad, no evacuation they knew his device was no bomb but because he was acting deviant as the school day progressed and the device beeping, interrupting one class I guess he started to look less like a science student and more like a terrorist. His earlier teachers knew it was no bomb as well...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9uoN7aers8

Forget all that gist. That guy is simply a terrorist in training. That was just a dry run. When the real one happens, the deceived will be thinking it's only a science project until they're prematurely sent to meet their ancestors.

Hard experience has shown that every Mohammedan is a terrorist unless extreme torture is used to prove otherwise.

Signed
Prophet Curlieweed (peace be upon him)
Centre of Interfaith Tolerance and Dialogue (CITD)

Curlieweed:


Forget all that gist. That guy is simply a terrorist in training. That was just a dry run. When the real one happens, the deceived will be thinking it's only a science project until they're prematurely sent to meet their ancestors.

Hard experience has shown that every Mohammedan is a terrorist unless extreme torture is used to prove otherwise.

Signed
Prophet Curlieweed (peace be upon him)
Centre of Interfaith Tolerance and Dialogue (CITD)

obviously you are as foolish as your moniker suggests. Pitiful

Curlieweed:


Forget all that gist. That guy is simply a terrorist in training. That was just a dry run. When the real one happens, the deceived will be thinking it's only a science project until they're prematurely sent to meet their ancestors.

Hard experience has shown that every Mohammedan is a terrorist unless extreme torture is used to prove otherwise.

Signed
Prophet Curlieweed (peace be upon him)
Centre of Interfaith Tolerance and Dialogue (CITD)

In many regions it is often the case that Muslims are terrorist (in training)... but American hasnt seen a terrorist attack by Muslims in the last 15 years since the War on Terror began, not even lone wolf attacks as seen in the M.E. and Northern/Western Africa while America is bombing their friends/relatives overseas, and Muslims have been America for a long time as well. In fact I cant recall any terrorist attack on American soil since I've been born other than the questionable event we call 9/11. So why suspect American Muslims of terrorist culpability more than anyone else? Based on actual statistics and facts, we should be disproportionately scrutinizing those pathetically insane white radicals who are now pointing the finger at everyone else but themselves (of course). Their terrorist attacks are more frequent than Muslims with school/campus shootings, churches shooting, movie theaters shooting, domestic militaries, bombings and bombing attempts... most if not all of these actions are incensed by paranoid conservative ideology. Ahmed looks like a terrorist so should these white fringe lunatics always clinching a gun and/or also making bombs fearful of the unseen and unlikely.

Coincidentally this Ahmed event took place in the vast state of Texas which also hosted a Draw Mohamed contest.. their bright idea of stirring up the hornet's nest and now they perceive every flying insect as an angry hornet; this time, a terrorist name Ahmed. The fringe hypocrites keeping themselves busy.

-Director of the League to Eradicate Racial and Cultural Supremacy (LERCS)