I have just read in the Newham Recorder the death of Sela Beya, 38, who was stabbed recently on Romford Road in Newham. Stabbing incidents have now attained epidemic proportions in our community. Recently, we read of the stabbing to death of Imran Maroof in Plashet Park, and also recently, three men were stabbed on Bidder Street. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, in Plashet Park again, there is news of a young man stabbed to death alongside two teenagers who were seriously injured.

The shiny new apartments springing up in Newham, the modern transport facilities like the Elizabeth line, and other good things tend to mask the real social problems blighting our community, chief of which is knife crime. Shazad Ali was right when he wrote six years ago on the Get Licensed blog, “Beneath the vibrancy of Westfield Shopping centre and the convenience of the DLR lies a sinister reality in the vibrant borough of Newham, whose motto “Progress with the People” represents the diversity and assortment of this community. The darkened reality is the numbing horror that the borough of Newham has had the highest murder rate in the capital within the last year.”

Sadly, the situation has not shown any improvement from six years ago. The Newham recorder, writing on knife crimes in 2023, says, “In East London, Newham had the highest number of recorded incidents during this period with 642 incidents, followed by Tower Hamlets with 547 and Hackney with 546 incidents.” 

All this is getting too much, and we need to ask ourselves why Newham has suddenly become infamous for its many stabbing incidents. It isn’t that the community hasn’t tried to do anything about it. Our hard-working Mayor, Rokshana Fiaz, is trying her hardest. And then there’s Dr Sally Mann, Minister of Bonny Downs Baptist Church and founder of the “Let’s Beat Knives initiative,” working alongside the Salvation Army and Transform Newham to end knife crime. But sadly, despite all these initiatives, knife crime continues unabated.

So, why are these initiatives failing? It is because a change of heart is required. We may have all the anti-knife programs in the world, but our good intentions will only amount to a little if hearts are not transformed. And could I push the boat out further on this? Our problems stem from godlessness in society. There are no longer consequences for taking another person’s life, and the only thought of a godless mind is with getting away with the crime, not with the divine judgment that God visits on every evildoer.

I think Christians placed in positions of influence by Providence must find ways to introduce God into the conversation – sensitively, of course, since we live in a multi-faith and no-faith society. After all, it is God and God alone who says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” That’s Ezekiel 36:26 if anyone wants to have a look. God help us all!