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This is the kind of idiotic response that causes hate for Americans around the world. This boy who is obviously bright, should have been here, perhaps growing up to be a scientist or Doctor, joining the long list of immigrants who have made contributions to this great country. Instead, humiliated, mocked and ridiculed, he is now headed to a hot bed of Islamic fundamentalism where America is hated. Think it might be easy for him to drift into their circles given his treatment here? So fast forward fifteen years he could be making bombs instead. So when the next 9-11 happens, we will all be here scratching our heads wondering what happened while the rest of the world shake their heads.
Hopefully this doesn't happen but it's pretty obvious none of you guys think about this at all
I think a lot of people think this was a setup. I have my suspicions, too. It seems a little too odd. He's middle eastern. He must know that there is paranoia in our country because middle easterners blew up Boston recently, the 911 incident, and many other incidents. Yet, he puts together something that has a tick-tock, and takes it to his teacher to show her his "clock." He had to know that the tick-tock would be investigated. He had to. At the least, his parents would have known (he most certainly showed it to his parents0.
Now that the family is moving to a ME country, that supports the suspicion even more. So I think that has a lot to do with some people's statements about the young man and his family. It all just doesn't add up to what it is represented to be, some people think.
I haven't followed the story but want add a comment - the dad is from the Sudan - in Africa. It's the NE of the country, and not a Middle Eastern country, but is home to many Muslims.
To the poster who asked if anyone here was an immigrant, been to the Middle East, etc., I am. And I am grateful for the opportunities America has given me. It's not a perfect country, none is. But after 9/11, subsequent Middle Eastern wars where its soldier citizens have died, and the threats from ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and the rest of the crazy misfits, they have a right to be suspicious. Yes, there are those here who aren't too educated about other countries and cultures, and at times it shows. One of these reasons might have been why the school acted the way it did, who knows? But, the school and President tried to make up for the situation the boy went through.
I am European. If Europeans who looked like me and my family did what the current cadre of Middle Eastern terrorists have done to the US and the world, I would educate my kids on how to behave so as not to draw suspicion to themselves, and I would tell them that because of those who look like us, we will likely be looked at with suspicion too. it's simply a fact of life. Sometimes life isn't fair, one has to suck it up and make the best of it. It seems now that every time someone is offended they want to make it known publicly or sue. What happened to getting over it?
If you Honor Kill your 2 teen daughters in Irving TX, you might be a Muslim radical.
If you set off Bombs at Marathon events, you might be a Muslim Radical.
If you fly planes into towers and kill 3000 people, you might be a Muslim Radical.
If you chop off the heads of people, you might be a Muslim Radical.
I remember that story. The father of the year is now on the FBI's 10 most wanted list. Those girls were murdered for having American boyfriends. One even told her boyfriend that she knew she would be murdered by her father, it was only a question of when.
Great, Im sure he can put his clock making skills to work over there........
"We are going to move to a place where my kids can study and learn, and all of them being accepted by that country," Ahmed's father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, told The Dallas Morning News before boarding an airplane from Washington back home to Texas on Tuesday.
So, you know that religion is done in this country by how we treat each other. You should make the connection that it was people of this persuasion that caused religion to be "done". Before we had so many muslims in this country, we had Christmas trees, now we have holiday trees. Schools used to have Christmas break, now we have winter break. People actually used to wish each other "Merry Christmas", now one can't do that for fear of offending muslims. Funny, there were plenty of religions here and no one was offended before so many muslims came here. And the really ironic part is that if we visited a muslim country, we would not be allowed to worship God as Christians or Jews, for islam is the only religion allowed.
It wasn't the Muslims that got that stuff taken away, it was the atheists. You know, the ones who think the Constitution says we not only have freedom of religion, but freedom from religion. I disagree with them that the Constitution guarantees freedom from religion, but that doesn't change the fact that it's their group that files lawsuits against school districts and government facilities to take away anything that smacks of religion. The Muslims actually don't care that much one way or the other, at least around here. In fact, they believe Jesus was a prophet and an important person in their faith. If anything, the Muslims would like to add their religious holidays to the school calendar, not take away other religious holidays.
...Just as the US would happily spread our culture and way of life to the rest of the world if we could. There is something ironic about us being vocal about others' cultural hegemony.
But I stand by the assertion that the cultures are quite different. There are some things that Arabs from different regions have in common, but there are just as many differences. An Arab from Lebanon might struggle to understand someone speaking Moroccan Arabic, for example, as someone from Qatar might if someone were speaking Sudanese Arabic.
Where the Mohamed family will almost certainly feel more at home there will be the fact that no one will assume they are terrorists because of their ethnicity. And it's hard to fault them for that.
I have a hard time believing the family that they experienced so much racism from their schools. The demographics of MacArthur High School seem pretty similar to the demographics of my kids' schools in Katy, a suburb of Houston. As white kids, they are most definitely the minorities in school. The majority (64%) are Hispanic, with whites and blacks about equal, and then a pretty large population of students from Vietnam, West Africa (Nigeria mainly), India, Pakistan, China, etc. As far as I know, there is very little racism at our school.
My kids have friends from all over the world, and I'm happy they get to learn about different perspectives. When they did their lesson on world religions, there were enough students from all over the world that they really got a good education about it. One kid would read verses from the Koran, while another would explain Buddism, or Hinduism, and another would read from the bible. In my daughter's junior high social studies class, there were students from all the major religions represented. I thought that was pretty cool.
We didn't have any parents freak out and keep their kids home during those lessons, and as far as I know, we didn't have any parents refuse to allow their children to do homework assignments about Islam.
It took a long time for our relatives to assimilate. Mine came here over a century ago in response to ads in their home countries telling them they could make a life here and didn't need to give up their language or culture. It took three generations before they spoke English as a first language and thought of themselves as more American than immigrant. Let's give up this charade of thinking that European immigrants assimilated better. It simply isn't supported by the facts.
That is true. Look at Central Texas, with all those German and Czech settlements. There are still areas where the elders speak German (it's really Texas German). Unfortunately, the language is dying out with the elders because when they were children during WWII, there was a move to force these kids to stop speaking German. Their parents spoke exclusively German, and their children didn't learn it at all, making them the last generation to really speak it. I read an article about it recently because a professor at the University of Texas, who was born and raised in Germany, was eating lunch in a restaurant in Fredericksburg and heard a group of old people speaking German, but it wasn't the same German he spoke. He found out it's a dying language, so he is documenting it to preserve it for history.
When the kid leaves the country who will be the next GOP bogeyman to scare them? Perhaps some 8 year old with an Arabic name?
You can move with them, if you like. It sounds like you may be more comfortable in Qatar as well.
I'll give this family this, at least they walk the walk, and are leaving the country. Unlike so many others, who complain incessantly about how awful this country is and yet remain here.
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Adios.
