Crash

In the movie Crash, the Officer John Ryan gets his feelings about black people from his father's job loss. The Officer's father worked as a janitor for years then moved up to start his own business. In this business, he employed black workers and, according to John, treated them as equals but when a law came out saying that any company minority owned and employed would get a tax break, he was left without a job because he was white and couldn't fit into the category so his workers went somewhere that would receive it. John blames all black people for his father losing his job when in reality it was due to a law and the human instinct to want to move up in the world. I think stereotypes come from basic human ignorance, fear, anger, or resentment for one person but people then turn around and blame the entire race because its easier to place anger/fear/resentment on a large group rather than one person. I think these prejudices also emerge in comedy later on, but this is only after they were exacerbated due to someone's fear or anger. For example, Jews were pegged as money conscience and savvy by the Nazis because they wanted the Germans to think that the Jews were coming in and taking their jobs. They fed off of fear of loss of job and created this stereotype which decades later has become a racial joke but still a ignorant stereotype nonetheless. 

In the movie, I believe when Anthony said "if anybody should be scared, it's us: we're the only two black faces surrounded by a sea of over-caffinated white people, patrolled by the trigger-happy LAPD", he was feeding off of underlying racial stereotypes of both whites and blacks. Anthony is assuming that every white person, however hypersensitive because of caffeine they may be, will see two black men as out of place and suspicious and need to take caution. He is saying that if they even made one step that seemed odd to the public, someone could call the police to come up and investigate. Anthony is also assuming that because they are black, the police won't either take them seriously that they are just walking around and see them as dangerous or the police will see that they are black, assume the worst stereotypes, and escalate the situation. Although none of these things happen, a similar scenario does occur later on in the movie when Cameron is driving the car that Anthony is trying to hijack from the passenger seat when they are pulled over. The situation escalates far more quickly than I believe it would have if the two men had been white. Anthony's statement, although extremely racial biased, points out the idea that due to racial stereotype fears people will act differently because of assumptions. I agree that there is this underlying racial fear that is within everyone no matter how hard we try to not get nervous when we are walking in the city and see a black man walking towards us, it is an unfortunate subconscious racism that everyone has which is what Anthony is pointing out and he is saying if they are not careful, people will act on those fears.