By Danny Fenster
Pastors, politicians and community members came together Thursday night at the Historic Little Rock Baptist Church in Detroit to honor and offer prayers for Steve Utash and his family. Utash was the victim of a group beating at Morang and Balfour, on Detroit’s east side on April 2.
While a 16-year-old held in connection with the beating was charged with a hate crime this morning—Utash was white and the attackers were black—it was a message of racial unity that echoed overwhelmingly through the church’s stately chambers.
Mayor Mike Duggan remembered his daughter’s obliviousness to race as the only white athlete on her youth basketball team, finding hope in the shared innocence of youth.
“There is power in coming together,” said Edgar Vann, Jr., Bishop of Second Ebenezer Church. “Good is going to outweigh evil.”
The victim's brother Ken Utash told the crowd: “I don’t know what his (God’s) plan is right now. He’s sending us through these trials right now. ... I’d like you to pray for my brother. He’s doing better."
The crowd included City Council President Brenda Jones and other council members; Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the NAACP; Congressman John Conyers, WDIV's Chuck Gaidica, who was listed on the program as a pastor, and the members of a broad array of faiths and denominations. It also included the Utash children.
Seated in front and later invited to the stage was Deborah Hughes, the retired nurse who intervened in the fight and came to Utash’s aid.
“Thank God in the midst of evil that we still have good Samaritans, said Bishop Charles Ellis of Greater Grace Temple in Detroit, “people willing to love in the midst of evil.”
