Those who watch the news know that 14 year old Ahmed Mohamed, a Muslim freshman in a Tennessee high school, was recently accused by school officials of making a bomb for his school project. In reality, this project was not a bomb, but instead a homemade clock.

Ahmed’s case illustrates the serious problem of racial and religious profiling within American society today, a problem that seems to have worsened significantly after the 2001 terrorist attacks on 9/11 .

These 9/11 attacks are well known to all citizens of America because of the absolute horror that occurred that morning as the World Trade Center buildings literally crumpled to the ground. After discovering that the leader of the plane hijacking and attacks was Osama Bin Laden, a Muslim, many people developed a newfound fear against all people of the Muslim faith.

Although Ahmed Mohamed was originally taken from his school in handcuffs, which as he said in an interview made him feel like he was a terrorist, he is now receiving worldwide recognition. He was nationally recognized through Twitter, and by Mark Zuckerberg and Hillary Clinton, who praised him for his creativity in making the clock. President Barack Obama also recognized him, but this recognition came with a bonus: a visit to the White House to share his clock with all attendees of an upcoming astronomy night.

Despite the spotlight put on Ahmed, there is also still some confusion as to why he was initially arrested. A contributing factor that many people can think of would be his race and religion. However, police chief Larry Boyd, denied this and said simply that the clock looked like a bomb and they would have treated anyone else the same way for bringing it into the classroom.

Although it is difficult to fully know if they actually would have done the same thing to another student of another race for bringing in the clock, at this moment in time it is difficult to say and everyone will have their own opinions on what truly was the thought process that went into the arrest.

Another more recent example of extreme racial profiling and prejudice is Ben Carson’s recent statement. Ben Carson is an African American Republican presidential candidate, and it seems likely that as a black man, he has undergone at least some amount of racial profiling throughout his life as well. However, he stated in an NBC interview that, “I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I would absolutely not agree with that.”

Carson later was asked if the faith of the presidential candidate should matter to the voters. His response to this was, “If it is inconsistent with the values of America, then of course it should matter. But if it fits within the realm of America and consistent with the Constitution, no problem.” However, he later informed listeners that he feels as though the Islam faith is not consistent with the Constitution.

Donald Trump, another well known Republican candidate, is also guilty of profiling individuals by their race, and he is not afraid to let the public understand exactly how he feels. He first said that he has many Muslim friends and acquaintances who are fine people and the problem is instead radical Muslims. However, he later strongly contradicted himself by saying, “We have a problem in this country; it’s called Muslims.” This quite obviously shows his true position on the issue.

This problems of prejudice and bigotry are still frequently seen in America, as shown from these many different examples. However, why are certain people or groups of people so intent on shaming certain religions, people, and races who have done nothing wrong to them? More cases like Ahmed’s are likely to occur again, so we will see how or if it is handled differently. Although there is no simple solution to eliminating deeply held prejudices, America and its citizens need to step up to confront these problems.