Ryan, I could not agree more, and in my line of work (a public school teacher in the “inner city”) I have witnessed this subtle racism leak from the area of Hollywood cinema into many of these do-gooders' realities.

As one of the few (at least according to revdrdre) Black males who are committed to working within my own community, it is oftentimes disturbing to see well-meaning – albeit often misguided – White people volunteer their time and efforts, only to frequently adopt implicit assumptions that these 'duskier tribes' have the inability to do for self. 'White Jesus' imagery aside, it is all too commonplace (Peace Corps, Americorps, Teach For America, Doctors Without Borders, even Vacation Bible Schools, etc) to see organizations filled with bright-eyed White volunteers with perhaps the best of intentions do the work of 'saving' others without first considering the complex racial and neo-colonial hegemonic overtones of their actions.

And fictional films or not, if art imitates life, then what reality are these writers/producers envisioning/imagining?

Ryan, I could not agree more, and in my line of work (a public school teacher in the “inner city”) I have witnessed this subtle racism leak from the area of Hollywood cinema into many of these do-gooders' realities.

As one of the few (at least according to revdrdre) Black males who are committed to working within my own community, it is oftentimes disturbing to see well-meaning – albeit often misguided – White people volunteer their time and efforts, only to frequently adopt implicit assumptions that these 'duskier tribes' have the inability to do for self. 'White Jesus' imagery aside, it is all too commonplace (Peace Corps, Americorps, Teach For America, Doctors Without Borders, even Vacation Bible Schools, etc) to see organizations filled with bright-eyed White volunteers with perhaps the best of intentions do the work of 'saving' others without first considering the complex racial and neo-colonial hegemonic overtones of their actions.

And fictional films or not, if art imitates life, then what reality are these writers/producers envisioning/imagining?

That's a shame about the movie, though. Both my wife and I already have our actors picked out (Gerard Butler and Salma Hayek, respectively). Mel Brooks would direct.

To respond/clarify/emphasize my final point (maybe lost after the video embed): “It’s great that white folks reach out to people different from them and have their lives changed in the process.”

I have close friends who adopted similarly to you. And I am a white male who has been involved in various cross-cultural efforts over the years. I'm not trying to give anyone an excuse not to do ministry or to discourage privileged folks from reaching out.

Instead, I'm challenging Hollywood and the church to find ways of lifting up other kinds of stories that emphasize the potential of people who've been left out and beaten down–rather than to reinforce society's preference for the hero/messiah motif in which all to often the hero looks like the dominant culture and the people needing saving have darker skin. Movies like Gran Torino, Blood Diamond, The Constant Gardener, etc. all make important statements and raise awareness of important issues–but better stories about indigenous heroes and sheroes might help us well-meaning white folks to do our good deeds with more humility and mutual respect and less of a messiah complex. I think those stories are out there–and some have been made into good movies.

Long story short: I praise God for your foster care. I just don't think anybody needs to make a movie about you.

After reading all the material of this ending, I don't believe you actually think “it's great” at all. Gran Torino is fiction. You can make the story whatever you want it to be, and that is the directions the writers took the story.

Second, if you want stories of people within their own communities, find and write the examples. You are an editor, for goodness sakes, you surely have writing ability and connections to others. Through Sojourners, you have access to many, many examples of the stories you want written (and indeed Sojourners has written them!). Turn them into a film!

You might want to try Remember the Titans, as one where people of different races and (probably class) are thrown together to turn from racism to overcome their families, their neighborhoods and form a cohesive unit that accomplishes its goals and to learn from each other. I realize it is only a football movie based on a real story, but it also sold some tickets without preaching down to the audience.

I can't help but feel this article nuances your readers into inaction. I am a foster father of a mixed race child. By your argument, I stand accused of reinforcing a “white savior” narrative by opening my home and caring for his needs while (if) his mother and/or father get their lives back on track.

What should I have done? When DFCS called in the middle of the night needing a home for a 3yo African American male, should I have said no? Would that have saved me from the dubious distinction of a White Savior (read: well-intention-but-backhanded-racist)? Of course, that would mean telling the social worker, “No, I'm sorry; I don't take minority children,” and I move from nuanced racism to overt racism.

You contend it would be better if my son and his family found their rescue from within their culture. That's a fine story for Hollywood (which may be your point), but in the real world, his culture – okay, subculture – was one of prostitution, drugs, spousal abuse (in both directions), objectifying women, and more. I understand that the entire situation began tragic and can only improve to a brighter shade of imperfect. Nevertheless, what action steps can I take out of your assessment in my real-life circumstances?

That last question is not rhetorical.

It is one thing to try to correct the evils of other cultures. It is another thing to try to correct the evil of one's own culture, that has been perpetrated on others. This movie and others like it are the exact opposite of white man's burden. This article does this cause a great disservice.

I think you're judging the heart. And even if they do have such a bias, why do you care so much? Doesn't this do more to alienate whites than to convince Hollywood to produce politically correct movies? The memory of slavery is the modern “white man's burden,” and I'm offended by those who won't let me off the hook for being white.

Question: Why do you not feel a need to attack Arabs or Muslims for the more controversial ideas of their peers?

Thus, in a kind of illusionary way, I look beyond and through Eastwood's whiteness and the Hmog culture and race. I don't see but a marvelous difference without a human difference.

Yes, it is easy to see this film as an apotheosis of the Dirty Harry trope, and it surely appears to be. But that is to compare the historical arc of the actor with the different arc of this story.

To say this is the white savior myth is to confuse two different contexts. First, save by the fact that Clintwood is white, does race really matter in regard to the justice that this film speaks to. Or, second, are we not, regardless of race or origin, enjoined to love? Race and culture may be the context of the film but it is not its resolution nor its rationale. It's depicts what any decent human being would do in the name of justice–pehaps, hopefully, without the final violence.

Notwithstanding these comments, I understand why many would construe this film to be one more Stanley Livingston trope, one more instance of the white man's burden.

But I still can't help feeling that this movie at a deeper level is not about race or culture, it's about justice. And thus it is a love story.