An Army veteran. A recent Reed College graduate. A poet and aspiring musician.

Three strangers aboard a Portland MAX train in May stood up to a white man as he hurled racist threats at a pair of black teenage girls, one of them wearing a hijab.

What happened next, in the course of seconds, would stun Portlanders and people across the nation.

Two of the Good Samaritans, Rick Best, 53, and Taliesin Namkai-Meche, 23, were fatally slashed by the man as the eastbound train pulled into the Hollywood Transit Station.

The third, Micah Fletcher, 21, barely survived the attack. Today, a jagged scar stretches along his neck. Other wounds he suffered that day remain less visible.

Best, Fletcher and Namkai-Meche are The Oregonian/OregonLive's 2017 Newsmakers of the Year.

Readers overwhelmingly chose them from among a field of more than two dozen, even after a prominent activist asked his fans from across the country to stuff the ballot box on behalf of another nominee.

In an informal online poll, locals cast the most votes for Best and Namkai-Meche. Fletcher, the survivor, was also among the top vote-getters, and editors determined all three should share the designation.

Countless others, whether or not they participated in the online poll, have ascribed a single word to these three men: heroes.

In this May 30, 2017 photo, people appear by a makeshift memorial for the MAX stabbing victims, which includes Taliesin Namkai-Meche's last words, "Tell everyone on this train I love them.'' (AP Photo/Don Ryan, file)

Their act seemed to transcend, however briefly, bitter divisions that have ripped at the fabric of communities around the U.S. this year, and served as a powerful response to a startling — and seemingly sudden — rise in hatred and extremism.

That confronting a hateful display in public could result in violence or even death was a wakeup call for many. And it prompted an outpouring of shock and grief that lingers.

"Their actions were brave and selfless, and should serve as an example and inspiration to us all," said Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, shortly after the May 26 attack. "We must come together as a community and love one another. We must reject hatred and violence."

Months later, the episode continues to transfix those living in our city and beyond. Even as a dispute over some of the money raised online for the victims of the attack stands unresolved, support for the three men and their families remains unshaken.

Fletcher this fall resumed his studies at Portland State University and also won a seat on the Montavilla Neighborhood Association. As he wrote from his hospital bed:

This is what we must do for one another

We must live for one another

We must fight for one another

We must die in the name of freedom if we have to.