See Something...Say What?

By Hal Lindsey

 

Soon after last week’s terror attack in San Bernardino, California, local TV stations interviewed people in the area of the terrorists’ home.  KTLA reported on a neighbor who claimed she saw suspicious activity.  She told someone she didn’t report it because, “She didn’t want to do any kind of racial profiling.”

 

KCBS talked to another person who saw something suspicious, but said nothing.  They reported, “A man who has been working in the area said he noticed a half-dozen Middle Eastern men in the area in recent weeks, but decided not to report anything since he did not wish to racially profile those people.”

 

The same fear kept both witnesses silent when they should have spoken up. They were afraid of being involved in racial profiling.  Yet, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has actually trademarked the words, “If you see something, say something.”  Their website says, “So if you see something you know shouldn't be there — or someone's behavior that doesn't seem quite right — say something.”

 

President Obama said much the same thing.  After the terrorist attack on the Boston Marathon, he said, “We all have a part to play in alerting authorities.  If you see something suspicious, speak up.”

 

But our society is wound up tight on the issue of race and discrimination. Millions of social media warriors stand ready to spring into action if they see anything that might in any way be construed as racist or Islamophobic.  If you follow the president’s instructions and “speak up,” you may be in for a pile of trouble.

 

Just look at the story of someone now known as “clock boy.”  You probably remember Ahmed, the 14-year-old who supposedly invented a clock and took it to school.  Because the clock looked like a bomb, school authorities called the police.  In other words, they “saw something,” so they “said something.”

 

Police took the boy in for questioning.  He was never charged, but his story went viral.  The press called it “racial profiling.”  He became an instant celebrity.  He met with United Nations dignitaries.  High tech billionaires promised him scholarships and jobs.

 

President Obama joined the school’s critics, albeit in a backhanded way.  He tweeted, “Cool clock, Ahmed.  Want to bring it to the White House?  We should inspire more kids like you to like science.  It’s what makes America great.”

 

When “clock boy” received a scholarship offer from the Qatar Foundation, Ahmed and his family decided to accept the scholarship and move to Qatar. On their way out of town, they left a parting gift for their former neighbors — a lawsuit against the city demanding an apology and $15 million.  By the way, “clock boy” now says he’s homesick for Texas, and wants to return.

 

If something looks like a bomb, are teachers and administrators supposed to ignore it because the kid who brought it is a Muslim?  Should political correctness override a school’s obligation to keep its students safe?  For merely being cautious, school authorities in Irving have been derided around the world as bigots.

 

Ahmed has been hailed as a genius for “inventing” a clock, but we now know that he merely disassembled an old digital alarm clock and put the parts in another case.  Electronics expert Thomas Talbot told World Net Daily that Ahmed “never built a clock. He did not invent a clock or build it… This is a commercial alarm clock …  All he did was remove the plastic case from the alarm clock. This is not an invention.  This is not something that someone built or even assembled.”

 

To any layperson, his “invention” looks like it could be a bomb.  And this is not the first time someone in Ahmed’s family took something to school that was made to look like an explosive device.  In 2009, his sister was suspended from an Irving middle school because she created a hoax bomb, and took it to school.

 

The federal government says, “If you see something, say something.”  But when the school district in Irving saw something and said something, Attorney General Loretta Lynch launched a Justice Department investigation into their actions.  The district now stands accused of violating Ahmed’s civil rights.

 

Do you see the confusion in which we’re operating?  We stand between two opposite ideas.  “If you see something, say something,” and “If you say something, you’re a bigot.”

 

This is a microcosm of the modern American dilemma.  Confusion has become the order of the day.  We’re fighting in the Middle East, but we’re not sure whose side we’re on.  This very month, the film industry — full of those ethereal beings that lord their moral superiority over the rest of us — will be dishing out film violence on a level never seen before.  And across the country, liberal college students are demanding the right to speak out … against free speech.

 

Such confusion comes as a result of America severing itself from its spiritual and intellectual foundation.  Without underpinning, the nation’s beliefs are no longer steadfast.  Even supposedly bedrock values like freedom of expression fall victim to the whims of intellectual fashion.  We fight our battles now as those nations who do not revere God.

 

It has not always been so.  Even the most secular of America’s founders held the Bible in high esteem.  It gave their thinking a firm foundation.

 

Pray for America.  Pray for a national awakening.  Pray that we remember our highest and best aspirations and ideals.

 

And remember… “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” (Psalms 33:12 KJV)