A prime example of Ethnic Hierarchy in the film Babel begins shortly after the white American women is shot in Morocco. The tour bus is full of white American tourists. Each of these people believe that they should be taken care of before all the others, wether it is medical attention or transportation, they all have put them selves up on a pedestal over everyone else.
In America white people have always been the “dominant” group. As Fredrickson wrote,
“The sharpest and most consequential distinction has always between "white" and "nonwhite."
Another example of ethnic hierarchy is the interaction between the Mexican nannies’ nephew and the American border patrol. Though the white border patrol officer was doing his job, he would not hear out some one from an ethnicity lower than what he considers himself. Without understanding the situation the white man is immediately hostile towards the Mexican man.
Ethnic Hierarchy can exist between to people who share the same ethnic background according to authority position. The Moroccan police consider them selves on a higher level than Moroccan civilians. They view them as terrorist immediately because of stereotypes. Babel was not the best example of ethnic hierarchy. The film Crash deals more with race and ethnicity and is a very similar movie on a different scale.
