The Knife Story (Part 1)
Categories: Léo’s Insights 2024-2025
The classroom was very quiet as the students focused on an exam I was administering. I was walking around, keeping an eye on things, when I was suddenly shocked into emergency mode. As I was walking past a particular student, his backpack fell over and out came an 8-inch hunting knife. Not wanting to cause a stir, I kicked the knife back into the bag and absconded the backpack.
I am not sure the student actually understood what had happened. Fortunately, he did not make a fuss but rather waited to retrieve the backpack at the end of the day. By then all the other students had left so I was able to reach into the backpack and pull out the knife with a “what’s this” query. The student’s eyes grew big as he instantly panicked. I told him to settle down and just tell me what it was about. A few minutes later I had his explanation for why he had the concealed weapon.
It turns out this young fellow, a very handsome indigenous man of sizeable proportions, had been repeatedly taunted and threatened at the bus stop by a gang of boys who took exception to him being an American Indian. You may think this was coming from some white kids, but that was not the case. Usually, the real racists were the black kids who hated the brown kids and vice versa. Since this particular student was neither black nor brown, he was getting it from both camps and had decided he would take care of this bullying once and for all.
I do not know what he had actually planned or if he had a plan at all, but he was deathly afraid, not of the rules and laws he had broken, but of me telling the owner of the knife, his dad, who, the boy proclaimed, would kill him for sure. I don’t know what prompted me to cut a deal with him, but I told my student I would refrain from reporting the incident for 24 hours or until I met his dad. The poor boy was beside himself with angst. I gave him his backpack, minus the knife, and sent him home. It was almost amusing to watch this student wish me a good life and ask if I would attend his funeral, which I promised I would do.
Needless to say, there was no funeral, but you will have to wait to hear the rest of this story next time.
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