Race And The Unconscious Bias, Racism, And Police Interactions Essay

The much applauded and critically acclaimed film, “Crash” (2004) directed by Paul Haggis is a film which appears to want the viewers to observe themselves and their world inversely. This film presents a truthful representation of race relations, racial discrimination, and social and cultural tensions in modern American society. It shows the stereotypes and racial myths that still occur today and continue to create racism. The film presents the intricacy of the relationships between diverse social groups and about the effects of discrimination on the everyday life experiences of a number of people. More specifically, the movie touches on three different types of discrimination. First and foremost, it deals with racism. Next, it depicts

One night in April 1998, two New Jersey state troopers pulled over a van containing three black men and one Hispanic man, all in their early twenties and all unarmed. During the stop, the van began to roll backwards. Although the van's driver would later claim that he put the vehicle into reverse by accident, the troopers believed he was attempting to intentionally back over one of them. In response, the troopers—both white males—fired 11 shots at the van, hitting three of the men inside, one of whom was severely wounded. Many African Americans and Latino face racist police officers. Not much they can do about it either besides sit there and take it. The topic of racism in police officers has deep history to consider, and there will always be both supporters and critics who continue to debate this topic.

It’s crucial that police officers gather all the facts before making any rash decisions. Whether it’s a routine traffic stop or a full blow investigation the facts is what should determine the decision an officer makes. Often times implicit biases or stereotypes influence judgments through processes of misattribution and disambiguation. This can cause their decisions to lean more toward believing one side over another.

Crash is a movie about race and stereotypes and its effects on the various people living in the Los Angeles area. The movie boost racial awareness and it requires close observation from the viewer. We see a variety of races including African American men and women, several Hispanics, a Middle Eastern family, and a few Asians. We see the ups and downs of each character and it helps us see where they are coming from, and potentially why they are racist against different people. It seems that we almost begin to feel sorry for the different characters regardless of what they are doing or how they are acting because of each of their circumstances.

The movie “Crash” tells complex stories of caucasian, african american, latinos, koreans, iranians, law enforcement, criminals, low and upper class in which all is characterized under racism within each group. Each race is guilty and are victims of racism. Throughout the movie, it portrays racism against other members of different races which results in repercussions of those perceptions. By stereotyping people, this causes people to be judged by their cover. Most people do not understand a person's culture, so they will be first to judge them based on what they have heard from outside sources.

"There were two cops. One said 'You niggers have to learn to respect police officers.' The other one said, 'If you yell or make any noise, I will kill you.' Then one held me and the other shoved the plunger up my behind. He pulled it out, shoved it in my mouth, broke my teeth and said, 'That's your *censored*, nigger.'"(Abner Louima) The police officers that allegedly performed this act of racial violence on August 9, 1997 had no reason to brutally beat and sodomize Abner Louima. They beat him for the fact that he was an African-American. I will show how I researched a poem by Maya Angelou and how racism occurred in "The Bluest Eye". First, we need to understand what racism is.

While the film “Crash” has several complex characters with storylines that all become interconnected in various ways, the movie is predominantly about how prejudice plays into people’s everyday lives and how such prejudice usually has negative implications. The characters in the film all had their own prejudices, or attitudes judging others in negative ways, which set the stage for discrimination, stereotypes, racism, and scapegoats. Thus, one can see how prejudice plays such a pivotal role in people’s relations with each other. As a result, it is best to analyze this film from a symbolic interactionism point of view by analyzing how the labels the characters encounter in this film affect their perception and in turn create prejudice

Social psychologists have studied the cause and effect of biases, specifically by white police officers towards minorities. Implicit bias, specifically racial bias, describes a psychological process in which a person’s unconscious racial belief (stereotypes) and attitudes (prejudices) affect his or her behaviors, perceptions, and judgments in ways that they are largely unaware of and typically, unable to control (Graham).

The movie “Crash”, by Director and Writer Paul Haggis, follows 8 ethnically diverse families/ individuals facing the struggle of modern day racism and stereotypes created and faced in modern Los Angeles, California. These individuals take the roles of individuals living their daily lives within Los Angeles, California while facing stereotypes. The cast portrays: 2 caucasian white male police officers, an African American director and his wife, a white district attorney and his wife, a Persian immigrant family, and a Hispanic father whose occupation is a locksmith. The scene chosen from this film involves the police officers (Officer Ryan and Officer Hanson) pulling over the African American Director (Cameron Thayer) and his wife (Christine Thayer) at a traffic stop. This scene establishes two different types of theoretic sociological concepts of Thomas Theorem and cognitive dissonance.

Discrimination, racism, classism, prejudice and more plague today’s society. These horrible issues do not affect one race, sexes, class, ethnicity, or age group; these issues affect all races, both genders, all ethnicities, and all age groups. For this film analysis, I have chosen to discuss the racism portrayed throughout a three-time Oscar award winning movie called Crash.

There are many instances where minorities are not given the chance to prosper in American society. The same system that promises all men equal opportunity has turned its back in the face of minorities. We plan to examine some segments of this system, namely the media and the criminal justice system, exposing injustices burdening minorities in America.

Throughout the past decades, the law enforcement in our society has been outrageous towards different races. The police play a big part in our society, and sometimes racism guides their decisions the wrong way. The first important reason I will discuss is the justice system in our society. The second important argument I will talk about is the Rodney King trial and beating. The final reason I will explore is how racism relates with To Kill a Mockingbird (TKAM). For example, it was very important that the jury of Tom Robinson was honest and truthful.

Crash is a movie that had several detailed events of sociological concepts. The movie Crash showed that everyone created has good intentions and good hearts but unfortunately they may grow up and learn the prejudices of the world. "Crash" is a movie that brings out racial stereotypes; as the movie is set in Los Angeles, a city with a diverse race of every nationality. The movie starts off with several people being involved in a car accident. We are then taken back to the day before the crash, where we are shown the lives of many of the characters, and the difficulties they may encounter during that day. An LAPD cop is trying to get medical help for his father, but he is having problems with an African American receptionist who won't give

Prejudices are the strong backbone to the concept of racism. They are the labels and images that we designate to a group of people on the basis of what we imagine to be the characteristics of all members of that group. More often than not, they are incorrect and incomplete. The film Crash, directed by Paul Haggis, addresses the strong existence of prejudices against many groups from various perspectives in today 's society.

The film Crash, written and directed by Paul Haggis, examines racial exchanges in several different ethnic groups living in Los Angeles. As the film move forward, we are able to view how each characters’ own racist experiences change their attitudes towards other races. Paul Haggis illustrates those change through the mood tone, setting, and even the music. By the end of the movie, the audience is left with a feeling of hope and an ambition to examine its own thought and actions towards others. Even though critics argue that the film Crash is stereotypically racist, the film encourages America to see past the misbelief we have of each other because empathy and self-examination is the starting place for change and the destruction of society is based on one’s choices.