Crash

In Jester East, I attended the viewing of the movie “Crash” and the discussion that followed. I had seen the movie before and I had loved it! The racial discrimination and stereotype issues in the movie really interested me. I have such a passion for these types of problems because I am a minority myself so I have some firsthand experience when it comes to being stereotyped as a Mexican. The discussion really enlightened me on these issues a little bit more by listening to other people’s perspectives.

In the beginning of the movie, you see that a car crash occurs. Mexicans are being stereotyped by being bad drivers and never being able to speak English. The Chinese woman that caused the crash also stereotypes the Mexicans for all being illegal by threatening to call the immigration. There is also another part of the movie where the character played by Sandra Bullock wants all the locks of her house changed again because she doesn’t want a Mexican “gangster” doing it. She discriminates against him for having “prison” tattoos, wearing baggy clothes, and just being Mexican. This is not the case at all. He turns to be a sweet, young father who has never been to prison but he is just trying to make money to take care of his family. These two parts of the movie really angered me because I am Mexican myself. I have seen so many people discriminate me and my dad who actually is from Mexico and doesn’t know English very well. People always see me and think I am ignorant, poor, and not English-speaking. This always angers me because people shouldn’t judge people just by their appearance.

In the discussion, other people discussed some other experiences they had where their friends or they have been discriminated against. It is really sad to think about that there are so many people in this world that have such hatred in their hearts against people of other races. It really hurts me to see the reactions and to hear the feelings of these people. I could the sadness in their eyes because such discrimination really hurt them.

Overall, I really loved the movie and I wish everyone could see it. There are so many people that have these similar experiences happen to them. People need to see that racism and discrimination is still happening everyday to different kinds of people. I hope we can all just think learn to accept others and not just judge them. I learned a lot from those people during the discussion and now understand how it is to be them.