The Hate U Give
Premise - High school student Starr Carter lives two lives - one in Garden Heights, the ghetto, primarily black neighborhood in which she grew up, and one at Williamson prep, the upper-class, predominantly white high school. On her way home from a party in Garden Heights, she witnesses a white cop murder her unarmed childhood friend Khalil. Forced into the center of a debate about racism and police brutality, Starr is forced her to question the differences between the two versions of Starr she has to present as she testifies in front of a grand jury.
Review - Never underestimate the voice of a teenager. And never underestimate a good YA novel. Most of all, don't underestimate the voices of teenage girls often ridiculed for their love of YA novels. This is a beautifully empathic, well-informed novel that puts the power back into the hands of the youth - specifically black youth. If you want to get even more specific, you could say black female youth, though I think this novel puts equal emphasis on the trials of young black men and black women, highlighting the differences between the two. Our writer and our protagonist are black women, but much of the focus is on the specific prejudice against young black men in our criminal justice system. The fear of cops along with associations to gang violence and drug dealership exist across black people, but the main target is undeniably young black guys.
Though I'll be speaking a lot about young black males, I heard of this book first through Emma Watson's "Our Shared Shelf," an intersectional feminist book club that I have been reading many selections from. These are books written about women, by women. Of course, this one was of particular interest because it is widely popular and had been made into a feature film. And thinking back through all of the YA novels I had read in my youth, they were probably 50/50 men and women. But I couldn't think of a single YA novel that had a black woman as a protagonist (There may have been some classic novels starring black women, but they were assigned reading). That's a real shame. Starr is a very important voice.
There are many reasons why I loved this book (and the film was a decent adaptation as well). I think what was most important to me was how it looked at racism as a largely systemic problem. There was no focus on the cop who shot Khalil being a "bad egg" who was outwardly racist. Truthfully, there were far too many factors that led to Khalil's death. Lack of de-escalation techniques in police training, the acceptance of lethal force, and implicit conditioning to associate black men with crime are problems on the cop side. But there are endless problems within the black community as well. There is far, FAR more black-on-black crime in this novel than there is white-on-black crime, true to reality. But I hate when people use that as an excuse to say that racism doesn't exist, or that black people are the real problem in racism, and whites are innocent. It's in fact the opposite - the volume of black-on-black crime serves as even stronger evidence of racism when we think of it as a systemic problem. Also, white-on-white crime exists at similar rates, so "within race" crime is more prominent than "across race" crime because of intense neighborhood segregation still exists. Racism in the way this book is thinking is not white people who outwardly discriminate black people. It's black people being placed at the bottom of society - living in the inner cities, with gangs, drugs, and guns. In these inner cities, largely filled with people of color, the schools are not as reputable, and the neighborhoods not as safe. Systemically, people of color are being condemned to have less opportunities from the moment they are born, and this is T.H.U.G.L.I.F.E.
The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everyone - that is Tupac's Thug Life. And it's true - racism, classism, sexism, it screws EVERYONE over in society, causing larger divides and conflict. And it's a lifelong affliction. And these people... the people who are screwed over the most, forced into a life of gangs and drugs... those lives are not worthless. They are not disposable.
I liked this book because it made me feel every emotion possible. I laughed, I cried, I felt sick and angry... I felt elated. Starr was an incredible lovable and humorous protagonist, and her trauma makes me unbelievably sad. I then started feeling even more feels because I finished this book right as the Jussie Smollett hoax was gaining media attention. I cannot recall the last time I had felt so outright enraged at a news story. How dare somebody take advantage of those who are trying to protect vulnerable communities for his own gain. It gave reason for right-wing enthusiasts to mock the existence of racism, and that makes me sicker than anything.
The film adaptation was strong - though I do seriously think the film lost a very important heart of the story by cutting out DeVante. DeVante was a prime example of a young black man who made it out of the gangs. Khalil and DeVante had somewhat similar paths - but Khalil ended up dead. The Carters were actually able to save DeVante. The film tried to instead absorb some of DeVante's plot points into Seven, but Seven was never a Kinglord. He was a straight shooter who went to Williamson Prep. I wanted to see audiences empathize with a DeVante on screen, a character who was all the things white people fear about young black men - a gang member caught up in theft and violence. But oh well, I understand that they could only cram so much of this masterpiece into a single film. (95/100)
Quote - There are a gazillion little short quotes. But there was a longer excerpt that stuck with me and I think summarizes the whole novel:
"Lack of opportunities," Daddy says. "Corporate America don't bring jobs to our communities, and they damn sure ain't quick to hire us. Then, shit, even if you do have a high school diploma, so many of the schools in our neighborhoods don't prepare us well enough. That's why when your momma talked about sending you and your brothers to Williamson, I agreed. Our schools don't get the resources to equip you like Williamson does. It's easier to find some crack that it is the find a good school around here.
"Now, think 'bout this," he says. "How did the drugs even get in our neighborhood? This is a multibillion-dollar industry we talking 'bout, baby. That shit is flown into our communities, but I don't know anybody with a private jet. Do you?"
"No."
"Exactly. Drugs come from somewhere, and they're destroying our community," he says. "You got folks like Brenda, who think they need them survive, and then you got the Khalils, who think they need to sell them to survive. The Brendas can't get jobs unless they're clean, and they can't pay for rehab unless they got jobs. When the Khalils get arrested for selling drugs, they either spend most of their life in prison, another billion-dollar industry, or they have a hard time getting a real job and probably start selling drugs again. That's the hate they're giving us, baby, a system designed against us. That's Thug Life.”
What to watch/read for - All of the Harry Potter references! I find it amusing that this was recommended for Emma Watson's book club and it is full of Harry Potter talk - both in the form of jokes, and sentimental moments that will make you cry.
If you liked this book, I'd recommend Invisible Man!
Written by Angie Thomas
Published by Balzer + Bray
Directed by George Tillman Jr.
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
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