Teacher forgives race hate stabbing

Bradford School teacher Vincent Uzomah informed the waiting media outside the courthouse that because he was a committed Christian he would forgive the young man who might have ended his life in a racially motivated stabbing in his classroom.

I prayed to God that this boy would realise that violence is no path to take and that He would help him rather to become a useful member of society.”

The young man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced to an 11 years.

The often unruly young man did not like being told what to do by his African teacher, and on the day of the incident after being corrected for poor behavior, he muttered a few words including ‘bastard’ and the N word before taking out his knife and stabbing Mr Uzomah in the stomach.

In a further twist to the story, the anti-racist group ‘Show racism the red card’, suggested that the recent dehumanising rhetoric coming from the Prime Minister and Arms Minister Phillip Hammond fuels the racial hatred that leads to crime like this.

Education director Laura Piddock argued:

Young people are absorbing all these messages,”

suggesting that such language would fuel racism in the classroom. She said the language used by Cameron and Hammond failed to counteract myths around immigration.

Yes I’m saying there is a connection between that kind of language and racism...There is a broad base of ideas which are based on stereotypes and prejudice and we very rarely talk about these ideas in the media unless there is a catastrophic event like what happened to Vincent [Uzomah] – where he was stabbed in what should have been a safe environment.”

After such a traumatic ordeal Vincent Uzomah is not sure whether he can go back to teaching.

Simon Woolley