Introduction
Over the years, the black community has battled with prejudice in various sectors. For instance, they have struggled with unemployment, accessing some facilities and even experienced brutality from the police. In various scenes, the movie Crash illustrates various instances where individuals from the black community have had to deal with racism. Ideally, this movie illustrates the complex and ambiguous nature of human beings. The Oscar winning film explores how race affects the residents of Los Angeles. The movie asks hard questions about various concepts including racism in an individual level and the harsh realities that the minority have to deal with (Haggis, 2005). Since time immemorial, the African American community has always been at a systemic disadvantage in regards to jobs, healthcare as well as education and others. In this regard, this paper will focus on reparations and police reforms in reference to the movie Crash.
The Concept of Reparations
The concept of reparations dates back to 1863 in the United States (Freeman-Maloy, 2017). Although slavery was abolished during this period, the former slaves were never compensated for their services. Since then, both the state and local governments have looked into reparations for the African American community, but the right measures are yet to be established. In September 2020, the World Economic forum established a special task force aimed at implementing reparations for slavery. The main role of this task force is to evaluate the various ways in which the state benefited from slavery, the health and education disparities as well as the enduring consequences of slavery. Some of these consequences include racial prejudice in various sectors. Essentially, reparations acknowledge and apologize for the injustice the African American Community continues to face (Freeman-Maloy, 2017).
Police reforms refer to the policies and strategies that have been taken to address police brutality in various parts of the world. Some of the reforms that have been introduced include the abolition of training procedures that encouraging aggressive behavior towards civilians as well as the introduction of new programs aimed at training the police to effectively identify situations where an individual may be autistic or mentally challenged (Coates, 2020). Moreover, various states in the USA have created a special independent unit aimed at investigating any form of police misconduct including the use of excessive police force and racial inequality. Citizens have also been a part of these police reforms as they voice out the need for anti-racism programs to protect the African American community from police brutality.
In the movie Crash, Cameron Thayer illustrates various aspects of racism and police brutality. Ideally, Cameron is a successful movie director who is living a luxurious life. His car’s model is similar to the Cabots. As he drives with his Wife, Cameron is pulled over by Officer Ryan. The police officer subjects Cameron’s wife to an invasive pat down because he argues that she is being belligerent. In this case, Cameron does not do anything to defend his wife. Consequently, his wife becomes angry with him for failing to stand up to the police officer.
In other scenes, we learn that Cameron continuously battles with racism at the work place. Nonetheless, he continues tries to fit into the white dominated workplace. Ultimately, Cameron is unable to voice out his true feelings about his racial identify (Haggis, 2005). He is portrayed to have feelings of rage and shame. In one scene, Cameron is willing to retaliate against Anthony and Peter, who attempt to carjack him.
When Cameron and his wife are pulled over by the police, it is evident that he has no say. He does not have control over what the police does. Avoiding to defend his wife against Officer Ryan’s sexual assault illustrates the police brutality that the African Americans are forced to deal with on a daily basis. Officer Ryan’s invasive pat down on Cameron’s wife is just an example of the brutality that the black community silently battles. In this regard, there is need to push for police reforms such as re-inventing law-enforcement tactics or even abolishing some police departments (Balfour, 1998). Such reforms will allow racial minorities such as Cameron to have an active say against any unwarranted aggression from the police.
In the carjacking scene, Cameron is seen to harbor immense anger and shame. He is also unable to explain his racial identity to his wife. Evidently, Cameron has been forced to conform to the standards of the white community throughout his life. He faces brutality due to the color of his skin. Essentially, human rights activists and other scholars advocate for reparations as compensation for any human rights abuse.
Nonetheless, modern governments are still unable to draft the right steps to compensate the African-American community for the hardships they still endure (Balfour, 1998). This factor is one of the reasons why Cameron is ready to explode at his carjackers. He is angry because of his racially disadvantaged position and the fact that there is nothing being done to protect him.
Conclusion
Ultimately, the movie Crash illustrates the impact of racial inequality on the African Americans. Police brutality is just one of the struggles that this community battles. Often, police brutality is based on racial prejudice. In this regard, the American government needs to implement reforms that prevent aggressive police behaviors and introduce programs aimed at reducing cases of racialization.
