His partner is already has racist views and believes that any “person you have to deal with [is] guaranteed to be black and stupid.” Hansen is completely offended by the raw bigotry he sees, and tries to talk his partner into doing the right thing. His partner refuses and uses his power as a police officer to exert his will onto an innocent couple. This episode is important because later in the movie when Officer Hansen is driving home he finds himself in a situation where he prejudges another person because of the color of his skin. Specifically, Officer Hansen picks up a black man, named Peter, who was hitchhiking. Their conversation inside Officer Hansen’s car gets tense. Officer Hansen gets uncomfortable when it seems Peter is laughing at him. They start to argue, it escalates into a confrontation and Peter asks Hansen, “you want me to show you? I’ll show you” what he is laughing at. Peter reaches into his pocket and Officer Hansen shoots him. Officer Hansen believed that he was in danger because it looked like Peter was reaching for his gun. Because of all of the racial tension in society prior to the 9/11 attacks Officer Hansen might not have reacted so quickly and felt as threatened if it was a white man in his