American History

The 2004 film Crash can be observed to have hit home among its wide audience.  With its multiracial, all-star cast, Crash highlighted the pink elephant in the room racism and discrimination.  Tatum (1997) mentioned an interesting exchange with her student who reacted to her future class which would discuss racism the student replied, Oh, is there still racism (123).  This exchange is evidently thought-provoking, which Tatum also addressed, ... if you are paying attention, the legacy of racism is not hard to see, and we are all affected by it (123).  Hence, in the year 2004, people get to see a movie on racism and discrimination in a supposedly liberal and democratic modern-day America.  The movie highlighted what 21st century racism has become issues.  The problem is no longer just biological, it can be territorial and political.  Racism and discrimination have been based on the conjured image of the races which unfortunately runs deep among Americans whether you are white, black, Asian, Native Indian or Middle Eastern.  There is nothing racist about racism, it affects all, and today, racism becomes more apparent in the lack of trust.

Ignoring Racism
The realities of racism today is a paradox some people do not believe it exists, but at any given convenient moment, its ugly head arises.  This is what Crash highlights.  Racism and discrimination remains to be an unresolved, deep-seated issue which rises at the possibility of threat.  In the movie, what seems to be a redeeming character is Officer Tom Hansen, the partner of the crude Officer John Ryan.  As John Ryan notably continues to harass minorities, Tom Hansen maintains his distance and expresses his sympathy.  Several times in the film Tom Hansen tells John Ryan that his behavior is wrong, to the point that the former asks for a new partner.  Hence, in the darkness of John Ryan, Tom Hansen can be regarded as someone who can potentially redeem to mean white people in the film.

However, one of the last scenes in the movie involves Tom Hansen driving home after a long day at work.  He sees a hitchhiker, Peter, a young black man, and decides to give him a ride.  Tom Hansens behavior seems to merely make up for John Ryans behavior for most of the day, until his black passenger starts laughing.  This alarms Tom Hansen he feels the threat.  Suddenly, Peter reaches for his coat pocket, and suddenly, Tom Hansen, reaches for his gun and shoots him.  Apparently, the reason Peter was laughing is because he saw Tom Hansens St. Christophers statue on the dashboard which he also happen to have one.

Tom Hansen can be said to be the similar to Tatums student however, as Tatum (1997) would most likely point out, Tom Hansen is not a hate monger as compared to John Ryan.  What the movie shows is that there can be an individual out there who might not be touched by prejudices, but as Tatum mentioned, everyone cannot be completely innocent because prejudice is an integral part of our socialization (125).  Although Tatum said that it is important for people to be responsible for their own prejudices, it is initially important to acknowledge it first.

Tom Hansens behavior and eventual action can be also described as deep-seated bigotry.  As Paul (YEAR) discussed, the unconscious can bring forth some form of automatic stereotyping, most likely due to the accumulated (mis)information about other races.  In Tom Hansens case, the murder might be due to his prejudiced unconscious finally coming out or the unconscious might have acted upon based on his accumulated experience with John Ryan earlier in the day.

Another important application is white privilege white supremacy remains today, and this can be attributed to the history of the whites.  Even though Tom Hansen ignored his whiteness for the most part of the film, at the end of the day he is still a white man.  Buck can point out that Tom Hansens behavior is a reaction to the threat of a black person he resorts to an automatic white behavior, and that is to read Peters action as a threat and that pulling the trigger is mostly for self-defense.  This shows that even though at the beginning Peter shows that he is not a bigot, there remains the strong sense of mistrust towards the minority.

Stereotypes
After the carjacking incident involving two young black men, Jean Cabots racist tendencies have escalated.  She does not trust anyone.  When she orders that the locks of the doors of her house should be changed, and notices that a Latino is doing the job, she orders to have the locks changed again.  This scene evidently shows strong stereotyping for Jean, a minority cannot be trusted.

As a white woman with an influential husband, Jeans behavior shows an example of white privilege, although this time, due to her experience, it is evidently that the behavior is due to self-entitlement.  She is a white woman whose husband is the citys district attorney, the carjack threatens her status as someone who is untouchable.  And ironically, it only took two young black men to create this affect on her, and as a result, the white privilege is translated to mistrust.

The sense of mistrust can be also explained by Tatums (1997) system of advantage based on race.  Jean believes that because of her position, she will always have the advantage.  This has been the reality in the United States for a very long time, and a threat to Jeans position brings her to a frenzy of discriminating behavior.  The irony, however, is that Jean can only depend on her maid who is a Mexican.

Last but not the least, even though Jeans carjacking experience involved black men, she automatically became biased against minorities. Hence, even though the locksmith is not black, the fact that he is a man of color and is a minority, Jean automatically stereotypes him as someone who can destroy the locks and cause her further harm.  Jean can be observed to have been subject to images Americans usually on TV which usually depict minorities as violent and criminal the manifestation of these images in Jeans life would therefore stir the unconscious and start operating at a conscious level, does, she is aware of her actions.

Conclusion
As the society continues to fight racism, it can be observed that this fight continues backed with hundreds of years of history, racism is something that cannot be easily battled by ideologies because racism in itself was founded on ideals.  In Crash, there are the characters who lived up to their prejudices and there are those who wanted to fight it.  However, in the end, everything boils down to what it beneath the skin, and the only redemption that these characters encounters is when they finally realize that everyone is human.  This is only at this point that the walls crash down and people start trusting each other again.