If it didn’t take the Holy Name of Jesus in vain, I would say that Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino would be one of my top ten favorite movies. The main character, Walt Kowalski, is played by Eastwood in that 2008 flick (see picture above.) Walt is a grumpy old white man disgusted by the shallowness and selfishness of his children and grandchildren. Meanwhile, he has good friends of many different races to whom he shows affection by endless racial slurs against them. They happily return the favor with insults to him. Real men often show affection by ripping on each other.Spoiler alert: Walt then befriends his neighbors, a Hmong family in the ghetto of Detroit. Walt (who would appear to be “a racist” if you only judged him on his vocabulary) ends up giving his life for the Hmong family at the end. Yes, that filthy-mouthed white man truly ends up dying for his new Asian friends by the end of the movie. This is not an accident. I believe Eastwood wanted to show woke Hollywood how most of America views race. And who the real hypocrites are.Let me write a little bit about my experiences on race in the United States. I have been to all fifty states, but I have lived in Colorado, Massachusetts, Alabama, Louisiana and Florida. As far as the North, I often find there is a tense or artificial peace when it comes to race relations. Northern whites often are self-righteous or self-conscious about race, perhaps dropping the occasional humble-brag about having a black friend.

Originally published in Padre Peregrino. Read original article