Only kinda. I can see why you took it that way, but you failed to recognize the base problem.
As a spiteful bastard, he failed to raise his family into a community, so they abandoned him. They also abandoned his community along with everyone else. There is no white community left to save in the first place, they've all either gone or moved on. Even the predominantly white church is a husk of itself with a no-nothing pastor. The only people left are goof-balls that have nowhere to go and nothing else to do.
Honestly, that's not a surprise. A lot of decimated white communities look like that as the demographic collapses or the white flight kicks in, and there becomes no community left to save. What he dies for is the only thing he can see worth saving in the shithole he lives in: a good-hearted kid trying to do the right thing, that's trying to learn how to be a bit strong.
Only kinda. I can see why you took it that way, but you failed to recognize the base problem.
As a spiteful bastard, he failed to raise his family into a community, so they abandoned him. They also abandoned his community along with everyone else. There is no white community left to save in the first place, they've all either gone or moved on. Even the predominantly white church is a husk of itself with a no-nothing pastor. The only people left are goof-balls that have nowhere to go and nothing else to do.
Honestly, that's not a surprise. A lot of decimated white communities look like that as the demographic collapses or the white flight kicks in, and there becomes no community left to save. What he dies for is the only thing he can see worth saving in the shithole he lives in: a good-hearted kid trying to do the right thing, that's trying to learn how to be a bit strong.
That's how these work. They write it so the story justifies the decision.
No disagreement here.