A 14-year-old brings a homemade clock to school. A teacher and the school’s principal pretend to think it’s a bomb and call the police, who amplify the prejudice by detaining the student. 

Nobody had actually mistaken the clock for a bomb. If that had been the case, the school would have been evacuated and the bomb squad would have accompanied the police in armored vehicles.

The bigotry Ahmed Mohamad faced in his Irving, Texas school is illegal and ugly. But it is not unusual in the post 9/11 era, where Muslims have become easy targets of social and institutional bias. 

The reaction to the injustice Mohamad faced was unprecedented. The teenager became a national celebrity within hours of his arrest. Media outlets across the nation reported his story with sympathy. Prestigious colleges and tech companies said they would welcome him. Celebrities and politicians paid tribute to his innovation. The hashtag #IStandWithAhmed became the second trending topic on Twitter on Wednesday.

Comments by the “leader of free world” encouraged many public figures to condemn school and police officials who wronged Mohamed because of his religion and skin color. 

“Cool clock, Ahmed,” President Obama tweeted. “Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It’s what makes America great.”

The ninth grader became a symbol of the struggle against Islamophobia. However, others were not so lucky. The bigotry in those instances was not enough to capture the nation’s attention.

The victims of Chapel Hill, who were executed by an anti-theist earlier this year, were largely ignored by the national media for days. When the Quba Islamic Institute was burned down in a suspected arson in February, the attack did not become a national topic of discussion.

When liberal America’s sweetheart, Bill Maher, said he fears for Western civilization because Mohamed is the most popular name for newborns in England, there was no backlash against him. 

Last week, when the city of Sterling Heights violated the First Amendment by giving in to bigots who opposed a proposed mosque on Islamophobic grounds, the story passed largely unnoticed across the country.

Standing with Ahmed should be the norm through which we face bigotry collectively as a nation. 

But more importantly, our country should adopt policies that respect human rights at home and abroad in order to get rid of bigotry and racism. As long as the disproportionate imprisonment of people of color continues, racism will persist in society. As long as the state-sanctioned murders of unarmed African American at the hands of police officers go unpunished, xenophobes will thrive. As long as we support dictators, destabilize and bomb people overseas, “White supremacy” will remain at home.

Bottom line, we commend the president for standing with Ahmed. But we ask him to stand with all the oppressed people of America and the world.