By Manali Jama of the Monsoon Violence Prevention Team
"The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas is centered around a topical issue -- the killing of unarmed black men by police officers. The book explores issues of racism, justice, and personal acceptance. The story follows Starr Carter, a black girl trying to navigate life in an impoverished neighborhood while attending a prep school in a privileged neighborhood. She is caught between two worlds; the Starr that lives in the poor, predominately black neighborhood of Garden Heights, and the Starr that attends the rich, predominately white school in the suburbs. Starr can be seen struggling with her identity at a young age as she often feels like she has to act differently depending on her surroundings. Starr’s life comes crashing down when she witnesses her childhood friend, Khalil, an unarmed black boy, get murdered by a police officer. Starr, being the only witness to the shooting, is put in a complicated position. This traumatic event has a huge effect on her life. At first, she is very reluctant to speak out against the shooting out of fear becoming the "angry black girl" stereotype at her school. She also wanted to protect her family. When the media begins to portray Khalil as a gang-banging drug dealer, she feels the need to defend and seek justice for him. Throughout the story, Starr can be seen growing and transforming. She does a lot of reflecting on her life, especially on her current relationships. Starr begins feeling guilt for being in an intimate relationship with a white boy. She also analyzes her friendships with girls who "jokingly" uses insensitive slurs toward her and other people of color. Throughout the book, she moves away from toxic relationships and draws nearer to those whose values aligned with her own. The unprovoked shooting of Khalil makes national headlines. The strong rhetoric that Thomas uses to describe the shooting in her novel parallels real world cases such as the shooting of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota. The story incorporates real world issues that is facing society today. For example, implicit bias and social justice issues that African Americans have been facing for generations, but have only recently gotten the world’s attention since the #BlackLivesMatter movement took off in 2013. The title of Thomas's novel comes from the late rapper Tupac Shakur's explanation of what THUG LIFE means. It is an acronym for, "The Hate U Give Little Infants F***s Everybody." Some may be confused, but Tupac’s explanation said, "What you feed us as seeds, grows and blows up in your face." This refers to systematic- and socially-oppressive things that black and brown children are exposed to and are taught to be true. This perception of reality then becomes an environment of violence and poverty without analyzing the root of the issues. This oppression that people are exposed to as children becomes reinforced as adults, which keeps folks stuck in an ongoing cycle of hate and violence. Overall, “The Hate U Give” is a powerful book that takes from real world situations and evokes strong emotions in readers. It is very detailed, which allows readers to get a better sense of the personal experiences of the main character, Starr Carter.
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August 2019
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