A Nation of Diversity

Despite the fact that America is a diverse nation, the existence of racial intolerance is evident. People are empowered to overcome such situation but some choose not to. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy” (King 46). Another Civil Rights leader, César Chávez, once said “Preservation of one’s own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures” (Cashill 234). In the film of producer Paul Haggis, Crash shows different characters, with different lifestyles, and different socioeconomic statuses and how they collide with one another.
Crash, written and directed by Paul Haggis, is a 2004 film about how in Los Angeles, during a two day period, people of a multi-ethnic background will track the unpredictable intersections and struggle to defeat their fears as they interweave in and out of each other’s lives. It depicts how African-American, Caucasians, Hispanics, and Asians collide in different times throughout the film. It differs from other films and has an impartial approach to the issue about racism. Rather than splitting the characters between offenders and victims only, the cast is shown as themselves being racists in diverse circumstances and conditions. Paul Haggis wrote this film after a life experience of his own – one night, coming home from an evening out with his wife, he was approached by two black men who took the his car keys and drove off on his new exotic car. Realizing they also had the keys to his house and his address, he called an afterhours locksmith to come and change all the locks at his house. Ten years later, he woke up in the middle of the night and remembered what had happened that night – no longer fearful or angry, but now curious; what were