Clocks and Callouts

Next person to say "oh, getting arrested was the best thing to ever happen to that kid with the clock, he has astronauts and the president tweeting him now" gets junk punched. NO one, especially not a CHILD, should have to go through a traumatic arrest to be afforded opportunities their upper class white peers take for granted. 

No question, I am thrilled Ahmed is now being offered these life-changing opportunities that have greatly opened up his personal future. But a child as bright as Ahmed should have MIT and NASA courting him *already*, not just the sudden interest as a gesture to make up for someone else's shit. And yes, now he has more opportunities than he can make use of in a lifetime - but he is an outlier.

For every Ahmed, when others make good on someone else's bad, how many poor, queer, disabled, non-neurotypical, non-white, children slip through the cracks? How many are met with, at best neglect, and at worst active hostility and legal action? This one moment of so many stepping forth - while excellent on the part of those that stepped forth - does not absolve us of every other child lost.

So NASA, Facebook, Twitter, MIT, UT, Col. Hadfield, Google, Box, etc: I call on you to do more than reach out for this one child. Create an engineering scholarship in his name for others like him. Reach out to the larger problem, not just this one young man.  

To all that have invited Ahmed to visit, compete, or tour: I hope the offer includes his travel fees and lodging, and if they don't, they need to. The majority of families aren't going to be able to afford to fly their child out to Silicon Valley for the weekend at the last minute. These are fantastic offers, and he absolutely should not have to turn any of them down for fiscal reasons. If the intent behind them is genuine, they've got to be ones he can realistically take advantage of.
On a related note, his is the ONLY official fundraiser for Ahmed: https://www.launchgood.com/project/istandwithahmed   and it warms my heart to see this wonderful young man has come to the same conclusion: that this is far, far bigger than just him.  So he's started a fundraiser where 50% of money raised will go to his college tuition, and 50% will go to giving other bright youngsters year-long memberships to MakerSpace to help build their own dreams. He's already giving from what he's getting, and I hope others follow his example.