Racism: caused by ignorance?

Nancy Bezares
English 1A
Final Draft
02-05-10
Racism: caused by ignorance?
Racism, one of the most controversy issues we face around the world, has isolated us from each other. Racism it's another way of looking at the world with our eyes closed to diversity and change. In the movie Crash, directed by Paul Haggis, portrays how ignorance can cause racism. Crash, where several storiesare connected by racism, takes place in Los Angeles, where multi nationalities reside. The movie initiates when several people are involved in a multi-car accident. “In LA, no one touches you…we’re always behind metal and glass. Think we miss that touch so much, we crash into each other just to feel something.” From that point, we are taken back to the day before the crash, seeing the lives ofseveral characters, and the problems each encounters during that day. In the film we can see how most of us are victims of racism yet we ourselves are racist and stereotype people. We judge people base on their appearance and don’t give ourselves the chance to get to know them well. A great example will be the character of Jean Cabot, a wealthy woman who has everything, yet she lacks the sense ofhumbleness.
The first time we encounter with Jean Cabot was on an evening with her husband Rick, a Caucasian district attorney, walking down the street toward their vehicle. While arguing with Rick she spots two African American men not too distant. Immediately her reaction changes and takes Rick’s arm. One of the men, Anthony, a bigoted inner-city car thief, saw her reaction of fear towardsthem, for he gets furious meanwhile the other men, Peter, Anthony’s partner in crime, wasn’t so concern. “You couldn’t find a whiter, safer or better lit part of this city. But this white woman sees two black guys, who look like UCLA students, strolling down the sidewalk and her reaction is blind fear. If anybody should be scared, it’s us: the only two black faces surrounded by a sea ofover-caffeinated white people.” Later Anthony asks Peter why they weren’t scared; Peter simply answers “Because we have guns?” Both African American men approach Jean and Rick and carjacked their vehicle. Jean here in this scene, in a matter of seconds doubt about the two men, yet she was right but it doesn’t gives her the right to be stereotyping people. We can see these two African American men werethieves but that doesn’t mean all African American are malicious.
Along the movie we encounter another scene in which Rick after being carjacked by two African American men, Jean, terrified, at her home, stereotypes the Hispanic locksmith, as he was related to gangs just because he was bald, “pants around his ass, [and] the prison tattoos.” Jean orders Rick that she wants the door locks changeagain in the morning. Rick, surprise about her reaction, insists Jean to go to sleep for they just had a though night. She claims the locksmith, Daniel, that as soon as he left he will sell a copy of the keys to one of his “homies” and thief all their belongings. Rick tries to calm her down yet Jean explode by claiming is her fault because she knew the carjacked was to happen “ if a white personsees two black men walking toward them and turns and walks the other way, she’s racist right? Well I got scared and I didn’t say anything and ten seconds later I had a gun in my face!” Daniel overheard their conversation and leaves the two sets of keys on the kitchen counters. In reality Daniel is a hard working man and has nothing to do with gangs. Jean stereotype Daniel without knowing him for shehad never seen him before. Jean judges him by his appearance and assumes he was a totally different person. She had a bad experience with a race yet that doesn’t gives her the right to stereotype all the people she encounters. Therefore in this scene she has somewhat of an ignorant behavior; since she offended the locksmith without caring to hurt his feelings.
Moreover, towards the end...