Anthony

Anthony: Dramatic monologue from the film “Crash”

I pull chains from the Chinamen trapped in the back of the van that I tried to sell to Lucien, after I got it from the Chinese man that I unintentionally ran over. I was setting these people free. They are taking forever to get out so I shout at them to hurry them up as only a few of them step out slowly. They don’t understand how important my time is in America. You can’t get paid if you’re late. I see them all weave through the traffic as I give the last man some money to buy everybody some chop-suey. He doesn’t understand and just walks away. Hah dopey fucking Chinamen has no idea. I close the back doors and jump back into the van and I smile. It feels good to know that Lucien won’t be able to sell these Chinamen to become slaves or worse. I also feel really proud of myself knowing I did the right thing. I realize I can do much better for myself because 24 hours ago I was a totally different person.

I remember complaining to peter about waiting an hour and thirty minutes just for a plate of spaghetti and a few cups of coffee. I was real stubborn and angry and I remember saying those words while I stormed out of that shop. I remember wondering why we weren’t getting served any coffee and I immediately blamed it on the colour of our skin, even though the waitress was black to. I thought that she was just another black woman that thought she knew everything about us two black men and how we don’t tip, so she wasn’t going to waste her time on us. Peter knew that I didn’t drink coffee and I knew that he didn’t want any but did the waitress know that? I wasn’t going to be expected to pay for that kind of service. I was standing in the freezing cold when I caught the eye of a lady with her husband as she quickly grabbed her husband’s arm. I asked peter if he saw what I saw and explained that she got colder as soon as she saw us. It made me real mad. I told peter to look around because we wouldn’t be able to find a...