News Release
Clint Eastwood’s “Gran Torino” Actor to Highlight Forum on Gangs
(October 13, 2009) -
One of the central actors in Clint Eastwood’s film “Gran Torino” will highlight a panel discussion on gang violence in the Southeast Asian American community on Oct. 24. Actor Bee Vang will give the keynote address for “The Real Gran Torino Story: Stockton’s Secret War on the Streets.”
Organized by University of the Pacific students, the panel will include State Senator Leland Yee, chair of the California Senate Select Committee on Asian Pacific Islander Affairs, and a number of other local and state officials in government and law enforcement. The event will take place from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the DeRosa University Center’s Grand Ballroom on Pacific’s Stockton campus. It is free and open to the public.
The film “Gran Torino (2008)” is an Eastwood-directed drama set in Michigan that addresses gang violence in the Hmong community. After the discussion, internationally-known Khmer-American hip-hop artist PraChy Ly will perform. Ly often addresses gang violence in his music.
“We would like to use this great, touching film as an entry point for bringing attention to gang violence in Stockton’s Southeast Asian American community,” said Pacific student Minhchau Dinh ’12, the event’s lead organizer. “Asian-American gangs have long terrorized the community with violence. Not only do we want to discuss this rarely talked about issue, we want to find the best ways to address it.”
In the movie, Vang plays Thao, a teenager who is pressured to join a local Hmong gang. He eventually forms a close relationship with his neighbor Walt Kowalski (Eastwood) after attempting to steal his 1972 Gran Torino as part of Thao’s gang initiation. Kowalski, a grumpy, widowed Korean War veteran, steps in to protect Thao and his family from the gang who terrorizes them.
In addition to Yee, the panel will include officials from the state Office of Attorney General, City of Stockton, Stockton Police Department and Stockton Unified School District. The event is co-sponsored by Pacific’s Cambodian, Hmong and Vietnamese student associations, International Programs and Services and the Assistant Provost for Diversity Arturo Ocampo. Other sponsors include Senator Yee’s office, the Asian Pacific Islander Public Affairs Association – Central Valley Chapter, Lao Family Community of Stockton, Lao Family Community of Stockton, Lao Khmu Association, United Cambodian Families and the Asian Pacific Islander Self-Development and Resident Association.
For more information contact Minchau Dinh at m_dinh@pacific.edu or Sondra Roeuny at sroeuny@pacific.edu.
