Thursday, September 17, 2015

The Dallas Morning News has an Irving paper. (click here) Ahmed made the subject above the fold.

Some of this really inappropriate because Ahmed is a young man who has a right to be safe and secure and without notoriety so he can live his life uninterrupted.

I do believe the police department has some liability in this issue. I would not say most of the country does this.

17 September 2015
By Eva-Marie Ayala

Along with concerns (click here) about anti-Muslim sentiments, some say the arrest and suspension of a 14-year-old Irving boy who took his invention to school amounts to zero-tolerance policies run amok.
Since 1995, Texas — as well as much of the country — has taken a tough-on-crime, zero-tolerance approach to discipline. So how much discretion do local school officials have in dealing with such a situation?
Plenty, say those who follow juvenile justice issues in Texas.
“Zero-tolerance has cornered our thinking so much that it prevents us from seeing the reality around us. I call it zero-intelligence,” said Michael Gilbert, a UT-San Antonio associate professor who researches discipline in schools.

President Obama kindly note!

In the United States, especially with minors, a citizen or a child of a citizen is innocent until proven guilty. The Mayor and the Chief of Police need to return the clock to Ahmed and his parents with an apology.

This is a mental health issue for children. They are never to be assaulted and handcuffed when the child is not an eminent danger to anyone in the immediate vicinity. Ahmed did nothing wrong. Everyone knows Ahmed did nothing wrong, he is a child and enthusiastic about his "Engineering Class." He is a great kid. Until the Irving Schools Superintendent and the Police turned the issue into a trauma he never expected.

Ahmed needs to find a school where a very bright child is appreciated and nurtured, it as heck isn't going to happen in Irving schools.

The Irving Mayor added politics to the issue by defending all the adults involved without admitting how astoundingly bright Ahmed is and the unexpected realization of same. There was an opportunity to showcase a very intelligent young man that loves learning so much he can't want another minute. He launches into INVENTION without an assignment to do so. If properly tested he probably belongs at least one year ahead of where he is today.

A child's mind is open to adults and their input. Ahmed is not only open to adults, he seeks them out. He sought his teachers to show something he invented. It was an opportunity to enlist the class in support of his enthusiasm and then harnessing the entire class in what is going to transpire in the engineering class that will provide an opportunity to conduct projects. The invention should have been appreciated and then minimized as Ahmed was one member of a very special class where all the students were gifted enough to be together for instruction.

The idea the first thing that came into the head of the teachers was "OMG, it's a bomb," is really something to worry about. Why would any teacher believe a student would bring a bomb into a class where he was one of a few. The engineering, of all teachers, should have been able to recognize the invention and ask Ahmed to stay after class to call his parent(s) to pick him and/or the invention up at the school. I am astounded, the engineering teacher actually told him to hide it and take it home because it looks like a bomb.

?????? What ????

The school system has the teachers oriented to the idea any student is a death threat. Like, what? This entire circumstance should be a learning opportunity for everyone, especially a school superintendent that has the school teaching staff on high alert for bombs. So much so that they tell students to lie when caught in an awkward situation.

There is a cultural problem in Texas. It is a very violent culture. It does not respect decency or kindness to diversity in a community. The only GOD Texas worships besides the almighty dollar, is the gun. It is for this reason Ahmed was victimized by police who never bothered to call a bomb squad because the teacher already told them it wasn't a bomb.

Ahmed is a minority student and that played into all this as well. Because the political right wing has started ranting and raving about a very talented young man was charged with some kind of disruption I worry about Ahmed and his family's safety. This entire episode is so loaded with control and hate it makes me worried, especially because now this young man is being exploited for politics.

A lawyer needs to step into this picture and consult with the family over their ability to have a peaceful household now that it has been turned upside down. How many times is a parent told, nurture your children, help them grow to be appreciative of learning and treat learning seriously. How many times are parents told to rejoice in the learning of their children to encourage more of the same.

That happy household has been destroyed because of the continued culture of fear in not just Irving, but, in Texas generally. The people of Texas are always looking for a boogeyman. Even if they insult men states away to travel to a cartoon convention to kill as they were harassed into performing.

There are laws where I come from where if people act to invite violence they have themselves broken the law. In Texas, it is A-Okay to foment hate and kill those upset by it.

This young man is so very damaged by Texas lack of morality when it comes to diversity I don't want him to ever be exposed to this level of victimization to make police feel good about their level of control at all places in Irving; even in the minds of those that teach children.

One of the reasons adults love children is because their innocence about life and their enthusiasm with life reminds adults of the purity life can present itself. Ahmed is one of those wonderfully innocent children we relish and protect. Well, his innocence stopped and he wasn't protected. Every adult involved in traumatizing this child should be ashamed of themselves and rushing to apologize to him for what was a very traumatizing event. The word was RUSHING.