Community to take 2 more steps toward healing 77 years after lynching

Two months after LaGrange Police Chief Lou Dekmar publicly apologized for the department’s failure to protect someone in its custody, resulting in a white mob lynching black teenager Austin Callaway 77 years ago, the west Georgia city will take two more steps this weekend toward healing wounds of racial injustice.

The community group called Troup Together has announced the following events open to the public:

▪ Saturday at 1 p.m., a diverse gathering of local faith leaders will conduct a service of remembrance in Warren Temple United Methodist Church, 416 E. Depot St., LaGrange. Participants are expected to “acknowledge and lament the lynchings of Callaway and three other African-American men in Troup County,” according to Troup Together’s news release. A permanent marker remembering Callaway and the other victims, as well as the Rev. Louie W. Strickland, who spoke against the lynching in 1940, will be unveiled outside the church after the service.

▪ Sunday at 7 a.m., the faith leaders will conduct a sunrise prayer vigil at Southview Cemetery, off Hamilton Road in LaGrange, and read the names of all known victims of “racist terror lynchings” in Georgia – nearly 600 between 1877 and 1950 – according to the news release.

“This act will help end the silence around lynching in the state’s past and help communities and families heal,” the Rev. Vincent Dominique of Warren Temple said in the news release. “Every life is precious to God. As we read these names, we recommit ourselves to seeing all people with the same mercy and compassion.”

The Equal Justice Initiative, the Troup County NAACP and the family of Austin Callaway are co-sponsoring these events with Troup Together and Warren Temple.

This story was originally published March 16, 2017 at 4:03 PM with the headline "Community to take 2 more steps toward healing 77 years after lynching."