this story never made sense to me. he disassembled a digital clock then put the pieces in a pencil case? he didn't fabricate it or design any of the electronic components; what was he supposed to be demonstrating, that you can put a digital clock in new case? also his dad was a sudanese opposition politician??
I used to take apart electronics and sometimes show the internals to people. Most folks haven't really looked inside any electronic device and don't know what the components look like or do, so it can be an interesting thing to share.
In this case it says he wanted to show it to an "engineering teacher" (wish my high school had that). I once printed out an entire program I wrote and tried to show it to the teacher who ran our computer lab.
Yeah, I could see if he was 8, taking an electronic component, stripping all the insides and moving it into new box and plugging it in sounds very plausible. But doing it 14, and then using what looks like a suitcase, where more than one adult thought it was a bomb, makes his story that it's just a "clock" a bit hard to believe.
Moreover, the first teacher he showed it to, urged him to keep the devices in his backpack and not take it out [1]. But he didn't, so that indicates he wanted really hard to get a reaction, and he set the alarm off in another class. Another strike against their story is the speed with which they demanded $15m from the school district.
[1] His engineering teacher, upon seeing the clock said, "That's really nice", but advised him to keep the device in his backpack for the rest of the school day.
Ehh. I'm sure any number of equally awkward HN commenters at 14 might have done the same, and if they weren't muslim, gotten the benefit of the doubt instead of being hauled off to the police dept.
i don't have one because it makes no sense! but frankly if it were me at that age i probably would have been showing it to my friends because it looked like a bomb
It sounds weird when you put it that way because that's not what happened.
> he disassembled a digital clock then put the pieces in a pencil case?
The Wikipedia article does say he "reassembled" the clock but if you check out the linked source The Dallas Morning News is very clear that it is a homemade.
He did not disassemble a digital clock and reassemble it in another case. He took existing parts and built them into a clock.
From the pictures my guess would be that he took an existing clock and connected it to that older 8 segment display (he may have also changed the power source photos are inconclusive but I don't see a 9 volt in the 9 volt reciever/mount point).
It's a 14 year old kid. He wasn't demonstrating anything.
He took apart a clock, stuck in back in a different case, wanted to show his teacher that in a, I am guessing : "Hey look, I took all this apart, and managed not to destroy it"..
Honestly, this entire event shows me two things:
1. The jumps people make to crazy assumptions when faced with someone they don't like because of ideological reasons.
2. The low level of technological acumen/knowledge to assume that this is even similar to a dangerous device.
I really wonder why people are defending such a clear racist incident. Is it a self defense mechanism that the society can treat some segments very badly or what
People are even bending the facts to try to blame it on a 14 years old. I wonder if even if he tried a prank or something (which is a claim that wants to be proved) then does it require that kid to be detained and escorted into detention facility? I mean if it was misunderstanding, wouldn't this get solved quickly. They could have just checked that it is not a bomb, apologies and then life goes. Even after the case waa found that it is clear misunderstanding, He got suspended from school.
I wonder also if people did actually read the contents of the Wikipedia article because their claims are not even in alignment with that. The attacks and conspiracy theories that this kid and his family received is very sad. He even had to leave the US. There ia one claim that this is just a setup by his politician father and the suitcase was filed quickly suggesting malicious intent. They failed to mention that his father was a political rival to the dictator and war criminal wanted be the ICC Omar Elbashir and that he moved to the US in the 80s and lived significant portion of hia live there.
I think people on HN can be better than to spread conspiracy theories and avoid racism.
It's 2024 and not 2014. 5 years from here, critical race theory could be about "removing" certain races because of their inferiority. The reality is that society has no safe-guards against such derailing and the worst part is that government will just "buy-in" into whatever popular theory is going on today.
> I think people on HN can be better than to spread conspiracy theories and avoid racism.
HN users tend to think they are more logical and thus, somehow more immune to racism, while failing to understand that's simply not how racist attitudes develop.
The fact that they moved is even more sad. Discrimination is at its peak. I wonder if an american kid puts a nuclear sticker to its laptop, would people react the same way.
To be the devil's advocate, wouldn't this be the same if a white kid from the Bronx dresses up as a ghost to school, only to be arrested for coming to school in a Klan uniform? To me it seems to be a huge misunderstanding on all sides.
No it wouldnt. İf I leave a mustache like hitler, no one believes that I am hitler, but instead this would be advertasing it. Which is still wrong, but this would be wrong regardless of my background. İn this instance, they actually believed the kid would make a bomb, just because of his name. I wonder any kid with different name would go through the same.
Because if not, you've accidentally proved the racism in this incident, because we can already turn up news reports of misunderstood nerdy islamic kids, but find no arrests of caucasian supernatural enthusiasts.
A nonexistent, hypothetical strawman doesn't bolster your argument.
It looked like a bomb and he was told by teachers to keep it put away. He even made the alarm go off in class. His father, a politician, turned it into an incident.
He experimenting hours and was proud of what he did. He wanted to show it to as many as possible, so he ignored what the teacher said. He was interrogated. Why more than one hour? It could have taken less then 10 minutes if you ask the teacher. Why was he handcuffed later? The police clearly wanted to make a statement or show.
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