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The recently released film "Crash," despite a dubiously "feel-good" ending and a couple of scenes with some plausibility problems, is a rare example of a Hollywood film doing a credible job of tackling the weighty issue of race relations in America. The characters in the film, black, white, Asian, Latino and Middle Eastern, are meant to portray diverse, yet typical Americans interacting with each other through a miasma of misunderstandings, miscommunications, racial attitudes and cultural baggage.
Throughout a variety of often inter-lapping scenes all set in Los Angeles, one of the most diverse cities in the country, the characters’ interactions with each other are difficult, complex and often surprising in their challenge to conventional notions about race. Things are not always what they appear to be. For example, the tattoos covering a young Latino character in the film are mistaken to represent that he is a violent man, when, in reality he is a peaceful, hard-working, family man. Two young black characters express their fear of walking in affluent white neighborhoods. A Middle Eastern store owner is not the victim of customer violence; instead he is the initiator of violence. It is easy to see how a seemingly small comment or action can be taken as offensive by another, or how one's preconceived notions of a "group" affect our interactions with individual members of that group. Judging from the film, we are all bedeviled by misunderstanding, cultural issues and a genuine fear of "the other" -- those other who are different from us.
What surprises me is that critics have failed to recognize another equally important theme in the film: Violence. Specifically, that all-too-American brand of violence which is often accompanied by guns. "Crash" largely works as an examination of American race relations but is perhaps more effective in the way it accurately depicts our irrational, out of control fear of each other. We truly seem to be devolving into a more primitive society where guns, readily and easily obtainable, mix with fear to create a volatile, dangerous place.
REP. GARY SHERMAN AND WISCONSIN CONCEAL AND CARRY
Wisconsin take note: This film is a perfect example of why the GOP-pushed conceal and carry law should never pass in our state. True, there are no such laws – not yet – in the state of California, but the film brutally illustrates what can and does happen on our streets every day because, well, there’s just too many damn guns out there. In one scene, road rage turns into a shooting death; in another, a robbery is nearly avenged with a handgun by a despondent store owner; a carjacking escalates into further violence; and the police nearly shoot an innocent man. Some of this appears to fueled by racial tensions, but in reality, the film's gun violence is a separate theme unto itself. After all, in the United States, whites shoot and kill whites, as do blacks, Latinos, and nearly every other racial subgroup. What we really need to fear is not the "other" who is so different from us, but our own friends, neighbors and relatives, many of whom may be carrying a gun. If you borrowed Uncle Billy's lawnmower you should consider returning it soon before a simple disagreement leads to a bloody shootout!
Last year, the conceal and carry bill passed the Wisconsin Legislature by a slim margin and was quickly vetoed by Governor Doyle. The Republican-controlled Assembly, in a nail-biter, thought it just might have the votes to override the veto. They would have were it not for the political courage of State Assembly Rep. Gary Sherman, a Democrat from Port Wing, located in the far northwest corner of the state. Sherman provided the sole vote needed to uphold Doyle's veto, and this particularly bad piece of legislation was killed -- for the time being. (The Republican-controlled Assembly is certain to introduce it again in the near future).
Sherman's vote was courageous because he faced a lot of pressure from constituents in his district to vote otherwise. It's not all that unusual for his district, and, in general, for voters in Superior and Bayfield counties, to vote for Democrats, but the area can generally be considered culturally conservative, with many hunters, outdoorsmen and a strong disdain for any form of gun control. What really adds to the drama of the vote is that Sherman himself supports the right to concealed carry.
I came to learn of his personal view on this issue firsthand. In the fall of 2003, before the bill was voted on, I met Sherman at a Wisconsin Democratic Party fundraiser in Milwaukee. A group of three or four of us, including Sherman, were having a conversation about a variety of subjects. At some point, the topic of gun control came up. Sherman and I began to have a rather heated discussion, as it became clear that he was against any form of gun control. His belief seemed to be centered on the theory that gun control is an infringement upon our personal liberties. He further explained that any restriction on citizen's access to guns is a form of endangerment to unarmed American citizens. He then proceeded to make a bizarre comparison between Nazi Germany outlawing citizen ownership of guns in the 1930's and the rise of Fascism. The crux of this logic, as I followed it, is that we need the ability to arm ourselves in case we need to overthrow our government. I interjected that besides this scenario being extremely unlikely, the Bush Administration, with its support of laws like the Patriot Act was currently doing just that, essentially subverting our Constitutional liberties without firing a single shot at American citizens. Although Sherman agreed with this point, he refused to back off of his illogical position equating gun control with the return of fascism.
HYSTERIA AND “THE OTHER”
I understand Sherman's need to reflect his constituents’ views, but his own position troubled me. Here was an apparently educated, intelligent man, a loyal Democrat with a solid voting record on a number of progressive issues loudly advocating the need for more guns on our streets. The point is we are nearing the tipping point -- that moment when a majority of Wisconsinites, many of whom are also educated and intelligent, believe that we need to arm ourselves to protect against the mysterious "others" out there, real or imagined, who would seek to harm us. This collective hysteria and loss of common sense is what is truly scary. We need only to look around to see the havoc guns are wreaking on our state on a daily basis; in the past couple of months in Milwaukee alone, a young girl was killed by a stray bullet, and two unarmed citizens were shot and killed by the police. Armed robberies and drive-by shootings remain commonplace in the city. In many rural communities in Wisconsin, suicides by gun are on the rise.
In a society where some estimates indicate that there are enough guns to arm every single man, woman and child in the United States, the last thing we need are more citizens walking around "packing heat" -- legally no less. If this happens, what can I expect the next time I cut someone off in traffic on I-94? A bullet through my forehead? Will the next altercation at my kid’s Little League game end up in a wild shootout?
With so many guns, legal and illegal, already flooding our streets, homes and cars, there are no simple solutions to the problem of gun violence. A conceal and carry law, however, remains an undeniably bad idea for Wisconsin. A film like "Crash" illustrates this with cinematic realism, but we need only open our newspapers and look out our windows to see the tragic reality up close.
Equally troubling is the fact that the gun lobby is well-funded; groups like the NRA pump lots of cash into the hands of many Wisconsin lawmakers. Gary Sherman went against the wishes of the NRA and many of his constituents with his vote last year, but what will happen the next time the bill is introduced and the pressure again rises on him? Moreover, what if the vote comes down to another lawmaker even more vulnerable than Sherman? Will our legislators have with the guts to stand up to the gun lobby and popular sentiment or will fear and cold hard cash triumph over logic and common sense?
WatchdogMilwaukee contributor Dave Somerscales is a longtime Milwaukee freelance writer, originally from Troy, New York. He currently works in the Wisconsin Labor movement as a bargaining rep. for SEIU Local 1.
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