UT Arlington student created hashtag that became phenomenon

posted on: Sep 18, 2015

Fort Worth native Amneh Jafari never expected to help spark an international movement.

“Never. I’m just a simple girl, going to school, studying,” Jafari said.

But when the senior UT Arlington psychology major saw a picture on the news showing Irving teen Ahmed Mohamed in handcuffs for bringing a homemade clock to MacArthur High School, it felt personal.

“It really saddened me,” Jafari said. “I have younger siblings, and I felt like I was looking at them.”

So she did what so many of us do nowadays. Tuesday night, she took out her phone and tweeted, creating a now viral hashtag: #IStandWithAhmed.

By Thursday night, it had been tweeted more than one million times. More people are tweeting it every second.

“I felt like I needed to, I had to,” Jafari said. “It’s something that came out.”

Since then, Ahmed’s story has shot into another orbit. On Twitter, President Obama invited Ahmed to the White House. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg invited him to headquarters. Even Twitter offered him an internship. On Thursday, he is in New York for an appearance on a national television show.

Amneh Jafari felt like “she had to” show her support for Ahmed Mohamed. Her tweet started an international phenomenon. Monica Hernandez reports.

It shows the power of social media to give a voice to the voiceless, Jafari said.

“To see that there’s so many good people in the world — sorry,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes. “It means so much to see so many people stand for what’s right.”

Ahmed Mohamed said the support from celebrities, big wigs, and ordinary citizens alike has boosted his confidence.

“It made me feel like I had the power to fight for others who couldn’t fight back for themselves,” he said.

A tweet sent from Twitter to Ahmed Mohamed. (Photo: Twitter)
The hashtag isn’t just about Ahmed, Jafari says. And perhaps that’s why it resonates with so many people.

“It’s about all the other kids that have been discriminated against in this country — no matter what religion, race,” she said. “I feel like it also represents them, as well.”

Jafari believes Ahmed was the victim of Islamophobia, and she says she has been, too. But she believes a simple hashtag has become a huge milestone toward creating awareness.

Irving police and Irving ISD have said that Ahmed’s name and religion had nothing to do with the way they handled this case.

Ahmed Mohamed in Irving police custody. (Photo: Twitter)
The 23-year-old hasn’t had the chance to meet the teen behind the hashtag yet, but Ahmed called her Wednesday. Jafari smiles just thinking about it.

“He was thanking me for everything that has happened and everything that I have done for his cause,” Jafari said. “And he was like, ‘I have to tell you something.’ And I was like, ‘Yes?’ He’s like, ‘I got accepted into MIT,’ and then I just started crying.”

“He’s an amazing kid, and I never would have thought we would have crossed paths this way,” she added.

Source: www.wfaa.com