Crash

People always mention prejudice, discrimination and racism. But, do people really know what these words mean? Prejudice is when a person judges someone, thinking that the person is going to do something improper. Prejudice happens when a person forms opinions about a person without giving the person the chance to prove he is innocent. Discrimination is quite similar to prejudice. Discrimination is the act of treating a person or a group of people differently than normal because of a certain factor. This factor could be age, religion, race, or gender. It is often confused with prejudice. Racism is the hatred or resentment to other races or to a specific race. The terms discrimination and racism are also sometimes confused with each other because the meanings are related.

In the movie “Crash”, there were a lot of discrimination, prejudice and racism. Among all the characters, I chose three that portray these three terms. The first character is the gun shop owner. This gun shop owner was irritated by the constant translating of English by the daughter of the buyer. The owner uttered words that can be interpreted as racism. He insulted the buyer because the buyer does not know how to speak English well. The exact words of the owner to the buyer is, “Osama, plan the jihad on your own time.” The owner was putting down the buyer just because he can’t speak English well. He also said he has no right to buy a gun in his store. In a little light, the owner could also have discriminated the buyer because of his poor skills in English. But because of the words he was saying about Osama and jihad and the 747 plane, his actions was more of a racist one.

The next character is the guy who kept complaining about discrimination. He was the one who got mad at the girl serving coffee because they were ignored. They wanted to buy coffee but the girl taking the orders kept serving the white people. This is an example of discrimination. The front cashier served the white people first and ignored them just because they were black. She treated the guys differently from the way she treats other customers. It is unfair for the black guys because they feel unwelcomed. Even though the cashier was also black, she still