“The Hate U Give” is a book by Angie Thomas that is a story about a 16- year-old girl starr carter. Starr lives in garden heights, a predominantly black neighborhood, starr reconnects with her childhood friend Khalil who has become involved in drug dealing. A gang dispute leads to a gunfight and starr and Khalil flee the scene. They are pulled over by a police officer for a broken taillight and when Khalil opens his car door to check on Starr, the officer shoots and kills him. In the aftermath of Khalil death, Starr must deal with her own grief and trauma as well as the reactions of her community and classmates. She initially does not want to identify herself as the sole witness to the shooting but eventually becomes involved in the investigation and speaks out publicly in support of justice for Khalil. The main themes I will be discussing in this essay are racism and police brutality. …show more content…
One of the main events that spur the action of the novel is the killing of Khalil harris, Starrs unarmed black friend, by a white police officer. This moment of police brutality is a part of a larger picture of racism and the criminalization of black communities in America as a whole. A quote that caught my attention states “What's the point of having a voice if you're gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn't be”. Police brutality is portrayed when Starrs friend Khalil is killed by a police officer as I state in the paragraph above. Police brutality is such a reality in Starrs world that her parents maverick and lisa talk to starr and her brothers seven and sekani about what to do when a cop pulls you over and what to say. It's really sad that in this world, that you need a talk about doing what you're told by police just because of your skin color and getting