Crash N2 Me Real Hard

no bib needed...

In my 19 years of existence, I have yet to experience a day without discrimination. Discrimination is everywhere, all the time. At the same time, I have learned that discrimination comes in many shapes and forms, including the obvious racial discrimination. Discrimination is the downfall of civilization and it hosts so many negative and unnecessary barriers to separate masses of people. Recently, I saw the movie "Crash", which really showcased how prominent racial discrimination is in our society. The movie taught me that there are three distinct levels of discrimination - cognitive, emotional and behavioral. They each bestow different qualities, but, in the end, they are one in the same.

It all starts with a cognitive perception, or judging a book by its cover. In "Crash", Sandra Bullock's character, while walking with her husband, noticed two black men walking in the distance. Immediately, she grabbed hold of her husbands arm. This is because she assumed they were threatening; thinking that she and her husband were going to be robbed. In the same respect, Ludacris' character noticed Bullock's reaction, and noted it to his friend. Enraged, Ludacris and Larenz Tate's characters stuck the couple up and hi-jacked their vehicle, which was an expression of behavioral discrimination.

There was one character, in particular, that experienced so much discrimination - The Puerto Rican character. After Bullock had been robbed, she requested her home locks be changed, as a means of her feeling safer. The Puerto Rican, who was a locksmith, was assigned to change her locks. Simply glancing at him and noticing his ethnicity, she assumed he was a criminal and was going to sell copies of her new keys so that someone could rob her home. Bullock's character showed all three levels of discrimination, including emotional, which is expressing the mentality of supremacy. Not only did she express the emotional for of discrimination to the locksmith, but also to her made, who was also of Latin persuasion. She (Bullock) also expressed behavioral discrimination, to the maid, by treating her as though she was of no value.

The locksmith took another heavy blow while working for one of the Persian characters, of the film. Almost immediately, one would assume the Persian carried the same sentiments, for the locksmith, as those of Bullock's character. With a behavioral discrimination, the Persian character shows his lack of respect for the worker by treating him as less than a worker but more like a slave. In a behavioral approach, the Persian, after blaming the locksmith for his store being robbed, hunts the locksmith down and appears at his home with a gun, threatening the life of the locksmith and his family. In an attempt to kill the worker, the Persian character ends up shooting the locksmith's daughter. Miraculously, the daughter was not harmed (not even touched by the bullet), but it taught the Persian character that violence, especially gun violence, will not solve the problem but