Zohreh Assemi, an Iranian-American Muslim owner of a nail salon in Locust Valley, New York, was robbed, beaten, and called a “terrorist” in September 2007 in what authorities called a hate crime. On August 25, 2010, a New York taxi driver was stabbed after a passenger asked if he was Muslim. After the Charlie Hebdo shooting in January 2015, there were numerous reports of attacks on mosques and Muslim citizens throughout the country. While en route to Chicago, Shah Rukh Khan, a well-known Bollywood actor, was held for what he described as “humiliating” questioning for several hours in Newark Airport because of his common Muslim surname, Khan. He was released only following the intervention of the Indian embassy. And on September 14, 2015, Ahmed Mohamed, a Muslim teen living in Irving, TX, brought a clock to school to impress his teachers. He was later arrested for creating what police said was a hoax bomb.

This is getting ridiculous.

An English teacher called the principal when she heard a beep from Mohamed’s bag. After being called down to a room, four officers appeared. One said, “Yup. That’s who I thought it was.” Officers kept asking the same question over and over again. “So you tried to make a bomb?” Mohamed was constantly asked. It turns out the Irving police force was unable to comprehend that it was a clock after much interrogation. Irving Police spokesman Officer James McLellan told the station, “We attempted to question the juvenile about what it was and he would simply only tell us that it was a clock.” It was only a clock. And after everything, the school district and the Irving police still have refused to apologize. If Mohamed were to stay in the school, he would still have to serve a three-day suspension.

Humanity’s glimpse of hope: social media. Barack Obama, Mark Zuckerberg and countless others showed their support of the innovative teen with #IStandWithAhmed. Kevin McKinney posted, “How did a bunch of complete idiots end up accidentally running a school? Were you all yanked out of a zoo and given paychecks? Learning centers are for teaching…not for ruining innocent people’s lives with your racism and pathetic stupidity! This kid is destined to be something great if the dimwits of Irving don’t ruin him first.” Mocking Irving Schools’ motto, Bill Cain wrote: “‘Where children come first’…to jail in handcuffs. Way to go, Irving.”

Not all of the response was positive, however. A conservative teen from Georgia posted a video complaining about Obama’s tweet to Mohamed, claiming that it shows how he doesn’t care about people killed by illegal immigrants. This, of course, is absurd because of the dramatic increase in border security under his presidency, and the clear Islamophobic undertones of the message. Former governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, posted on her Facebook page, “Yep, believing that’s a clock in a school pencil box is like believing Barack Obama is ruling over the most transparent administration in history. Right. That’s a clock, and I’m the Queen of England.”

As for Ahmed, he has met with President Obama and Mark Zuckerberg. And after looking inside and outside the country for schooling, the teen’s father has decided for Mohamed to be homeschooled. Hopefully, this will event will remind America what Islamophobia does to one’s mind and how it affects millions of Muslims in the country.