Racism Portrayed in Crash

In the movie Crash, racism is not just an underlying theme, it is the entire story line of the film. After pulling over a black couple simply because they are black, an LA cop sexually harasses the woman and her husband does nothing to stop him because he believes there is nothing he can do for her without getting himself arrested. He is not truly being selfish. He was just giving in to the white supremacy that is a major part of the film. For hundreds of years, black people have given in to whatever white people want simply because that is what has been beaten into them after many years of slavery, etc. Black people may not be slaves here in America anymore but they are still treated as lesser beings by many white people. The new target of the white supremacist movement is against anyone that looks middle eastern. Americans see middle eastern people as a threat because of the attacks on September 11, 2001 and the fact that America is at war with some of the countries in the Middle East. In Crash, there is a Persian family that is continually harassed for being "Arab" even though they are not. The Persian father seems to not have very much common sense due to the cultural differences here in America which ends up getting him into a lot of trouble. The mayor and his wife are two white people who get car-jacked at gun point by two black guys. Both the mayor and his wife are extremely racist. This comes out the most when the wife demands to have the locks of their house changed again in the morning by someone who won't go out and sell the keys to his buddies because the locksmith is Mexican. As it turns out, the Mexican locksmith is the least racist, most lovable character in the film and he has a wife and daughter that he cares a lot about. The locksmith also tries to fix the lock of the Persian man's shop but discovers he needs a new doors instead. The Persian man does not understand and is very rude and racist to the poor locksmith. After the shop is broken into and torn apart, the Persian man goes after the locksmith and almost kills his daughter. All the racism in this film connects all the central characters to each other.

In "Crash and the Self-Indulgence of White America," Robert Jensen and Robert Wosnitzer discuss the white supremacist nature of the movie and how the film itself is not a racist film. Just how the people in the movie are racist. They also talk about how the movie could "be summed up through one phrase from the studio's promotional material, which asserts that the film 'boldy reminds us of the importance of tolerance.'"

The relevance of Crash in American culture today is that it serves as a figurative slap in the face when it comes to racism. Although not everyone may be that extreme, we all have our moments where, even if its only in our minds, we judge people unfairly based on the way they look.