Laura Baker Services Association

From Our Executive Director:
“Meeting the Challenge with ‘Soul Force’”
(continued from our winter newsletter)

In my own attempt to better understand the horror of the recent beating incident of a young man from Lakeville with developmental disabilities, and how or why an LBSA staff member was involved in spite of his training and demeanor in our environment, I have read many of the online follow-up articles, and some of the readers’ comments that follow those articles. I have been both terrified and horrified by much of what I have read, both about what reportedly occurred to the young man, and by the responses of those people who are reading about the incident. Many people comment that we should let these men out of jail so they can impose their own vigilante justice. It’s clear from the comments that we as a society believe that whatever is published or broadcast is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. It’s also clear that we believe that somehow gives us the right (and perhaps the responsibility?) to create our own justice. From what I have read and heard (in that same media, I know) that belief is what created this situation in the first place.

As I read the comments, I think about the cycle of violence and wonder, “Where will it stop? When will we say enough?” I fear for people with disabilities—I fear for all of us, when as a society, we have no sense of enough violence, when our response to violence is violence. Instead, we need to work to make our world a holding environment for every person. We need to heed the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. as he addressed the civil rights issues for people of color, and use them as words to live by every day, in every interaction with another:
“In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy … must not lead us to distrust …, for many of our … brothers, … have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.” (Excerpts from Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech.)
We seem to have lost sight of this need to respond to physical violence with “soul force”. Perhaps it is that the input we receive creates such static in us that we do not have the ability to sort out the noise or calm ourselves from the emotion before we react.

Given the events of my own life the week that this incident occurred, it would be understandable: The incident occurred the weekend before the Gala. On Friday of that same weekend, I received a call at home that Laurell, a client at one of our community homes had died. His death was expected—he’d been in hospice care for a few weeks—and still, the moment had arrived. That weekend, my boys were confirmed and a German exchange student arrived for a 3-week visit. On the Tuesday following, I received a phone call at home from first a staff member telling me she had just gotten off the phone with the Star Tribune who was asking questions about a staff member who had been arrested and then the Star Tribune reporter who had found my home phone number. Wednesday was a flurry of people demanding answers and information. Thursday, I received a few phone calls from anxious parents, guardians and case managers, and an attempt to return to calm. And from everyone I met on the street and talked to, reassurance, support. Saturday—the finishing touches for the Gala evening, a funeral for Laurell—closure for us all.

This cacophony of faces and voices represent the best—and the worst—of the many faces of LBSA. And those faces aren’t only the faces of individuals, they are the masks of sadness, fear, outrage, joy, relief, support, and concern, which blend and become the choir of community that lifts our spirits when we are low, shares our joys when we are laughing, challenges us to be attentive, and chides us when we neglect our duties.

At LBSA, we work hard to be able to always be seen as compassionate, caring, competent. And by work hard, I don’t mean working hard to create smoke and mirrors that reflect something that isn’t. I mean working hard with our staff members to BE competent, caring, and compassionate, so that everything we do, everything people see IS compassion, IS caring, IS competence.

We work to create a holding environment for our clients and our staff members. And I’m not talking about a jail cell here. This environment is one where the people who live and work here feel safe and nurtured. This safety extends beyond a sense of physical safety to one where each person feels safe to take risks that help them grow, and to succeed or to fail in their attempts. This environment holds people accountable for the choices they make, and doesn’t make excuses. This environment allows us to learn courage, and self-respect, and forgiveness. It allows for us to be diverse and individual and equally important. When I know that I have a place in the world that will hold me, I can take chances that allow me to grow. I can allow my face to shine as one of the many faces of Laura Baker.

We welcome the support for our clients, the recognition of the importance of our work, and the acknowledgement of the fragility of souls that we are entrusted with guarding that too often feels unrecognized by the world at large. We mourn those who see people with disabilities as somehow less, and thereby, someone to take advantage of. We understand that each person can make a choice about what to believe, and we rejoice that you have all have chosen to support us. Your support AND your scrutiny are vital to our success.

Together we are stronger. Together we create a holding environment where we can be challenged to grow, and where we know if we fall, another will be standing with a hand to help us off the ground so we can accept the next challenge.

Sandi Gerdes
Executive Director