Have you ever been blamed for something you didn’t do? Do you wish you were given a chance? Some people die because they are never given a chance. This book gives a strong message about injustice towards black people. This story of a young black girls life also explores racial issues in America such as police brutality, the drug trade, gang violence and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Angie Thomas puts us in a view point of Starr, a teenage girl born and raised in Garden Heights. Which is considered a lower class neighborhood where she was forced to witness the murder of her bestfriend. Starr’s character works on developing confidence to speak the truth. The Hate U Give originates from a tattoo Tupac Shakur had saying Thug Life.
It stands for “The Hate U Give Little Infants F*cks Everyone” which proposes the negativity people are feeding young kids and grows hatred within them and will later in life backfire when they take their anger out on the world. T.H.U.G shows the reality and struggles people of color and people in minorities are forced to deal with. Which I can connect to my life of the reservation. Many people treat Native Americans different because of their skin color or because of where they live.
Starr’s story of individual growth is inspirational to people all around the world because of the effort to raise awareness to cultural issues that many people are afraid to talk about. Starr was able to relate to most kids either because of her issues to fit in or the struggle to find her voice. The story gives hope and confidence to kids that no matter what you can get through a tough situation.
It also struck home to me because I know there are people from the reservation who are afraid to speak up and confront the issues. And all they need is confidence, so if they read this book it would open their mind to a whole new meaning of this situation. The act of her standing up on top of a cop car represents her stance against the judge, which she uses her voice to defend and spread the true story about Khalil.
“This isn’t about how Khalil died. It’s about the fact that he lived.” She stated this when protesting because the stories were getting twisted to make Khalil’s life seem unworthy because of his appearance or where he grew up. When the cop should be the victim as he was the killer. But because he’s white people aren’t focused on that? By asking irrelevant questions such as whether he was involved in a gang, if he sold drugs, if he had taken drugs in the past. This perspective of Starr helps the reader develop a better understanding and just the harsh reality minorities have to deal with.
Reading the book I felt more connected to the Black Lives Matter Movement because I got to know Khalil on a personal level. I’ve learned to stop judging situations so quickly because there are two sides to every story. And this is a lesson everyone should learn. The world judges to quickly and quite often twist and turn stories. The news and police can dehumanize certain situations by having the public only know about the negative aspects of a person so the victim is looked at unworthy or the bad guy of basic rights.
The Hate U Give makes you feel as if your living Starr’s life with her. This novel helps to remind people that we are making steps towards equality but racism is still alive in the lives of many people! And it only means we have work to do for our future. So I encourage other people to read this novel as it helps people in releation to the issues and speak out for their truth.
