I am my brother's keeper

While national news reverberates with stories of actual racially charged incidents, as well as baseless accusations of racism, my neighbors and I recently witnessed an amazing story that would disarm those wars if enough people took notice.

On Sept. 5, two families were celebrating a wedding in downtown Lynchburg, a place I love to frequent. Naturally, relatives had traveled from far and wide to witness this happy occasion. One of them — the grandfather of the bride, 81-year-old George Baker III — had come from Tempe, Ariz. He was staying in one of the city’s classiest hotels, the Craddock-Terry, close to the heart of this once bustling downtown. The wedding reception was held nearby.

As the reception wound down, Baker decided to walk back to his hotel at around 10:30 p.m. He certainly felt safe. How many crimes occur on Main Street, America?

But on this evening, some misguided teens happened to be hanging out in the vicinity of an all-night restaurant on Main. One of them, in hopes of impressing some girls, bragged that he was going to hit the next person he saw. That unfortunate man was Baker. This 16-year-old, along with two other juvenile assailants, proceeded to beat and kick Baker, severely injuring him. He died the following day.

There is no making sense of such a senseless tragedy, of course. What ought to have been the happiest day of their lives turned out to be one of the saddest for a new husband and wife, who left their reception not for their honeymoon, but for the hospital where Baker lay dying.

Did I mention that Baker was white and the teen attackers were black? Does it matter? Not here, apparently.

What has elevated this case from just another horrible, random tragedy to a story for the ages is the response from the families involved, and from spokesmen for the city’s “old-guard” black community.

The newly married couple, Joe and Leslie Gahagan, wrote a letter that was published in the local newspaper soon after Baker’s death to let everyone know their families’ faith was sustaining them and that they felt no malice toward the attackers “We want to reach out to their families in love as we all are working through traumatic emotions together,” they said.

It was announced that the 16-year-old ringleader could be tried as an adult. His life, for all intents and purposes, is over because of one horrible mistake.

His grief-stricken mother also wrote to the newspaper to thank the Baker family for their response:

“I would like this letter to be a springboard to begin a healing process in the community... ,” she wrote. “I cannot express the amount of gratitude I have. ... I am truly in awe of [your] Christian quality. ... I know in [my son’s] heart he did not intend to [initiate] a tragedy of this magnitude,” she added. “There is no excuse for the act perpetrated... .”

Far from heightening racial tensions in Lynchburg, this incident has initiated a broad coming-together in sadness and compassion for both the victim and the perpetrators of his death.

Several revered black community leaders, including a former mayor of Lynchburg, gathered to give a statement of solidarity with the victim’s family and to express their grief over the criminal actions of the three boys.

“We come in the spirit of love, unity and reconciliation,” said the Rev. James Coleman.

“It could have been any one of us that happened along that night. And had the victim been an elderly African-American and the perpetrators three white youths, we would still be standing here today,” said retired teacher Garnell Stamps.

That’s it? No race-baiting, no hand-wringing, no plays for the national limelight? Just open, Christian love and concern, neighbor to neighbor.

“Am I my brother’s keeper?” asks Genesis 4:9.

The Gahagans summed it up best: “Our hope is that this will be looked back on as a testament of Lynchburg’s compassion, kindness and grace. The best way for a city to thrive is for her citizens to love their neighbors as themselves; to appreciate their differences; to magnify their similarities and to unify in their common beliefs.”

 Debbie Thurman is an award-winning columnist and author who writes from Monroe. Her e-mail address is debbie@debbiethurman.com.