Wednesday, 05/04/2006 - 7:53 PM PDT

Angie Gutierrez
English 1A, Wed. 5-9pm
Midterm, 3/15/06
Racism

In the film Crash directed by Paul Haggis, many different characters from different racial backgrounds are thrown together by circumstances stemming from the complex views of racial intolerance in America today. Crash presents complex characters like the bigot Anglo policeman and his rookie partner, who doesn’t approve of the racial comments and actions of his senior partner but ironically feeds into the stereotype of black young men and causes him to murder. There is also the white politician and his racist wife who get car jacked by two African American men and his main concern is how he will loose the “black vote” by accusing them rather than dealing with the issue of crime, while his wife looks at every minority including her house staff, suspiciously. In regards to racism today, one thing is evident, without much attempt and conscious on one’s part, there are devastating consequences that can and do take place by the power of one’s judgment, beliefs and actions towards the other based on stereotypes and prejudice. Wherever cultural and racial differences exist, there is always going to be suspicions and tension towards the one another.

One of the storylines in the movie is of a police detective named “Ria” played by Jennifer Esposito. Ria is the feisty, head strong Latina partner of “Graham” played by Don Cheadle, who also happens to be Graham’s lover. In one scene, she gets rear ended by an older Asian lady and the two start to argue about whose fault it is; immediately beginning to insult one another with racial comments. The Asian lady accuses Ria of not having insurance assuming Ria is from Mexico. In a racist rebuttal, Ria makes fun of the Asian lady’s accent and her pronunciation of certain words. This is a common stereotype of Latinos. I have witnessed this first hand when my friend, Gaby got rear ended by another lady who was Latina. The other lady was really nervous and didn’t speak English and was having a hard time finding her car insurance papers. Gaby got in the car to wait instead of standing outside and commented to me “I bet she is not even legal and of course will be uninsured”. I was surprised Gaby did not have the patience to wait. The lady could have been really nervous and that was effecting how she couldn’t produce the papers quickly enough. I also felt a bit offended, being a minority myself and disappointed in Gaby because she was also undocumented up until a few years ago. How could she just assume the status or situation of the other lady just because she was Latina and didn’t speak English well?

Another issue in the movie between Graham and Ria is of race and ethnic identity. There is a scene where Graham and Ria are making love and Graham stops to answer his phone. Ria gets angry and Graham tries to hang up with the other caller by mentioning he is making love to a white woman. Ria becomes furious at being classified as white just because of the fair color of her skin. Similar to Ria’s feelings about ethnic identity, I have gotten upset many times throughout my life at being categorized based on my appearance. One example that comes to my mind is during my elementary school years. I went to a school where the majority of the kids were African American. Many times I was shunned from playground activities by other kids because I was the white girl. I understood that I had a different skin color from the other kids but I really didn’t understand why I was being called “white”. I knew I was Hispanic so what did they mean by white? I hung around with some of the other Hispanic kids and there were a few African American kids that didn’t care about the difference in color and race, that I would play with also. The racial attitudes and indifference continued for me throughout middle school.
Reflecting on this, I understand what is meant when people say racism is learned behavior. Other than the difference in color, language and customs of a race, how would kids know about racism and stereotyping? How would they know to classify themselves and others based on the outer appearance unless that is what they hear and are being told to do. Most kids in elementary school just want to play and have a good time. This reminds me of something that happened when my niece was in kindergarten. My sister, her mother told me that my niece believed she was African American. She believed this because her best friend had the same caramel, brownish skin as her and her friend was African American. Her innocence in race was evident. To a child that is not exposed to racism or hatred, they know no difference; they are similar in the way of just being a human being. Now that I am older and have a child of my own, it is very important for me to help my son understand that a person can look and be different from him but should be treated with respect and dignity no mater what color they are, customs they practice or language they speak.

Racism has been and continues to be a very serious problem in the world today. Many people say they are not racist towards another ethnicity but there is always the tense moments where another person of a different race crosses their path and comments or suspicious glances are made. Unless society starts to take action and make changes within themselves and with their children, and unlearn racism and bigotry, there will never be equality and complete unity.