Is racism a problem we will never fully resolve, or can it be addressed by increased awareness, and taking action? Racism has plagued human history for many years, yet it still exists today. While there has been progress in some areas, implicit racism is still present in society, and institutions, and is challenging to eradicate completely. Angie Thomas' young adult novel "The Hate U Give" tells the story of 16-year-old Starr Carter, who sees her childhood friend Khalil fatally shot by a police officer during a traffic stop. Starr is the only one who saw the shooting, and as she deals with the aftermath of the tragedy, she is forced to face the prejudice and structural inequities that are pervasive in her neighborhood and in society as a whole. …show more content…
For instance, Hailey makes a stereotypical and bias comment towards Starr that concerns fried chicken “What the hell was that comment?” “Lighten up! It was only game talk.” “A fried chicken joke was only game talk? Really?” I ask. “It’s fried chicken day!” she says. (Thomas, 53). The stereotype that all black people like fried chicken is quite disrespectful to them as people may say it's just “food for blacks” which isn’t true and is just blatantly racist. Another example is, when Hailey outright says what she thinks to Starr and the people around them about Khalil “The cop probably did everyone a favor. One less drug dealer on the—”(Thomas, 149). Starr’s response to this was also very important as it show’s just how much this comment hurt her. Starr without a second thought slams her fist right into Hailey’s face. This just proves that Starr felt extremely offended by what Hailey said and that showed through her violent actions, usually she does not resolve things with violence but this comment pushed her hard enough for her to do so. Furthermore, Hailey yet again acts ignorant and selfish and makes another comment she shouldn’t have “Yes, get over it! He was probably gonna end up dead anyway.” (Thomas, 149). Hailey implies that since Khalil is black, he was bound to get in some form of trouble and most likely get killed. This portrays that Hailey is very ignorant, and she has her own negative biases that are mostly untrue and based solely on race stereotypes. This means that through her prejudiced opinions she could potentially hurt or offend people either willingly or unwillingly. Through this particular quote the author tries to communicate the message of how biased and selfish a person can be, since Hailey didn’t at all take into consideration Starr’s or anyone else’s feelings and blatantly spoke out her