The Hate U Give By Anna Thomas

Echoes of Justice

According to NBC News black Americans are 3.23 times more likely than white Americans to be killed by police, only 14.2% of the population in America is black making up 27% of all deaths caused by police brutality. These statistics are exemplified in the novel The Hate you Give by Angie Thomas talks about the story of Starr and how she changes throughout the story and how she earns her confidence on how to speak out against police brutality. The ideas in The Hate U Give connect to our world today through the article “How BLM Went From a Hashtag to a Global Rallying Cry” by Leah Asmelash and the other article “Homeroom” a Hulu documentary. We need to advocate and fight for change because people of color aren't treated subsequently.

An example of this occurring in the text is on page 59 when Starr explains how people of color are turned into hashtags and rarely achieve justice. Starr states, “The truth casts a shadow over the kitchen—people like us in situations like this become hashtags, but they rarely get justice. I think we all wait for that one time though, that one time when it ends right” (Thomas 59). The line,”People like us…become hashtags…rarely get justice” reminds the reader why they need to advocate for change because we as a society cannot allow more unjust murderings of people of color. A real life example of someone turning into a hashtag but never gaining justice is the murdering of Tamir Rice. A young black boy who was shot dead by police because he (a child) was playing with a toy gun. The police were never charged and Tamir Rice never got the justice he deserved. In the article How BLM went from a Hashtag to a Global

An example of a person fighting for change and speaking out occurs in the article Homeroom, a Hulu documentary about defunding police in schools. A unidentified rally speaker at the school boards meeting yelled out the many different ways they were advocating and fighting for change. The line,”Yall need to show up in the Zoom school board meeting, full up public comment, tell them why this is so important, go on BOP’s social media, we have the school boards phone numbers up, call them, blow up their phones.” (Homeroom) By referring to the line,”Yall need to show up in the Zoom school board meeting” it is evident that the unidentified speaker wants to help his community advocate for change. The idea of getting the community involved is also present in The Hate U Give when Starr grabs a megaphone and stands on top of a car in the middle of a protest to publicly defend Khalil's honor and calls for people to treat his death as the depressing moment it is. As Starr is doing this she shouts,”If 115 had traded his weapon for this one; Khalil would still be alive. My name is Starr and I am the one who saw what happened to Khalil. I am the witness. But, so are Y’all. We are all witnesses to this injustice; we see it all and we will not stop until the world sees it too… Everyone wants to talk about how Khalil died. This isn’t