Racism in "Crash" Essay Example

Our society is filled with people who are racist and intolerant of people different than themselves. Even though all people are born with good hearts, they learn prejudices as they grow up. Millions of people have suffered due to these prejudices. Some people just don't understand change and cannot accept the differences among people. During the Holocaust in Germany, for example, anyone without blue eyes and blonde hair was literally classified as non-human. They didn't even think they had souls. More common today, African American people are often assumed to be in a lower class, or inferior to white people. Racism is still a considerable large problem in our society today. However, sometimes the problem is not one person being racist against another person, but rather the person being racist against their own self. In the movie "Crash" directed by Paul Haggis, we can see several examples of how racism against oneself, caused by fear and misunderstanding, can often be just as bad as racism against another. Fear is something that makes people act racist in our society. The character named Farhad form the movie is just one of the examples of someone who lets the prejudice of their race affect the way they act. Farhad thinks that just because he is Persian, everyone is going to look down on and take advantage of him. He freaks out when he is at the gun shop and the owner insults him. It made him fear Americans even more. After the tragic events of September 11'th, which are referenced a lot in the movie, Farhad thinks that anyone who is Middle Eastern isn't welcome in America. Even after the gun shop owner was rude, his shop was destroyed by racist people who hated him. It is this same fear of being cheated because of his race that makes him very untrusting to people he doesn't know. He calls a lock smith to come fix his door because it won't lock. He immediately thinks that Daniel is trying to cheat him and steal money from him just because of his past endeavors.