Crash exposes the roots of racism

It is very common in films to have characters that portray some group, usually racial minorities, in a negative light, using stereotypes. In most instances, the stereotype is placed into a film to reinforce people's prejudices and beliefs. For instance, a film will portray Native Americans as violent and savage, not because that image is true or justified in any way, but simply because that is what society as a whole thinks of and expects when Native Americans are mentioned. Crash used this same technique to its fullest extent, including almost every common stereotype known in American society, not to appease people's prejudices like other films, but to make the audience feel uncomfortable with their way of thinking and explore the causes of that prejudiced thinking. At first it seems like the movie is simply showing that everybody comes into contact with racism, either as a cause or victim almost every day, but on closer inspection the movie shows a pattern that explains the deepest roots of racism, which is fear.

In almost every storyline in the movie, racial slurs or prejudices are sparked by a situation that makes the "racist" fear for their safety from a member of another race. For instance, when the Persian shop keeper goes to buy a gun, the store owner seems to have no problem selling the gun until the two start speaking Farsi. This language barrier makes the salesman uncomfortable as he cannot know what they are talking about, and allows his mind to connect 9-11 and the Middle Eastern customers. Even though it is not logical that the two would be terrorists, the man lets his ignorance of foreign cultures cause fear of different people, which is masked by hatred of that people.

This pattern is repeated throughout the movie; the white women shows prejudice against Hispanics because they are the nearest target when she feels her family is in danger; the officer shows prejudice against blacks because he fears that his father is dying as a result of affirmative action for blacks; the younger officer shoots the black man because of his fear that the man will conform to the violent stereotype.
For every instance of prejudice these people display, they show later that they can relate to other races when they are not feeling threatened; the white woman admits her love for the Hispanic maid; the "racist" officer risks his life for the black woman; the other officer vouches for a violently angry black man. All of these instances show that every person is capable of love for members of other races outside of threatening situations, proving that if people were to lose their fear of the unknown or the different, then racism would be a thing of the past.