A teenager stabbed to death outside his school gates had talked about knife crime robbing him of innocent friends “just like me” in a haunting video filmed just months before his murder.
Renell Charles, 16, a pupil at Kelmscott School in Walthamstow, east London, was ambushed and fatally stabbed in the chest on Friday afternoon.
He took part in acclaimed filmmaker Kay Rufai’s Smile-ing Boys Project, which uses creative arts to address the mental health needs of black boys.
Dressed in his school uniform last September, Renell is passionate as he says: “Right now, especially in this time and generation, let’s be real.
“People are dying out there. Unnecessary people are getting hurt. Innocent people are getting killed.
“And it’s young black boys just like me.
“We deserve a chance to show that not all black boys are just tough, hard gangsters.
“No matter what they have been through, they’ve always got a smile on their faces.”
Rufai’s project, most recently funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Foundation for Future London, tackled masculinity and negative stereotypes behind rising violence.
His work has been showcased at City Hall and across the world.
In the footage Rufai posted on Instagram yesterday, Renell says that since taking part in the eight-week session he had “learned to open up more”, adding: “It’s okay to get mad at situations. It’s okay to be upset and cry. It’s not being a wuss.”
The teenager was given a shopping voucher for being involved after Rufai praised him as a “shining light and a leader”.
Rufai told the Standard he had shot the video with Renell at his school and they had a catch-up session in December.
The filmmaker was contacted at his home in Los Angeles on Saturday by a teacher. He initially thought Renell had been in trouble in class but his hands “started shaking” when he realised the teenager had been killed.
He said: “I received a phone call many of us never ever want to receive.
“’Can you ring me? I have some bad news about Renell’.
“I had hoped he was rude to a teacher and was facing an exclusion or just something about his behaviour in school, and she - the amazing teacher - just needed advice on how to best support Renell through it - but my body knew.
“The weakness had already permeated through my optimistic guard, and my hands were already shaking. We must do better.”
Headteacher Sam Jones said the attack marked the “darkest of days” for the community.
A 16-year-old boy charged with Renell’s murder will appear at the Old Bailey on Thursday.
Meanwhile, a 15-year-old boy was arrested yesterday over the murder of 18-year-old Wazabakana Elenda Jordan Kukabu, known as Jordan, who was stabbed to death near Dagenham Heathway Tube station on Friday night.
Three further males aged 16, 17 and 20 were detained last night in the Suffolk area on suspicion of murder and violent disorder. All four remain in custody.
