The Hate U Give: A Reflection of Black Lives Matter Movement in Contemporary America - Free Report

The Hate U Give follows the life of Starr Carter, a teenage girl grappling with racism, police brutality, and activism. Written by Angie Thomas, the novel became an instant success and was adapted into a movie. While the novel is fictional, it closely resembles events that have been witnessed in the United States in the recent past. Just like all other black children in the United States, Starr lives in an uncertain world. Her father has taken the measures taken by all African American parents to prepare their children to navigate a society that might not necessarily be friendly. To this end, the novel tackles racism, which has historically been a divisive issue in the United States. Carter witnesses the point-blank shooting of Khalil, her friend, introducing the issue of police brutality whose prevalence has been on the rise in the recent past. Khalil represents dozens of black Americans such as Trayvon Martin, Freddie Gray, Tamir Rice, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd who have been murdered by law enforcement officers, and have often not been punished. Their deaths triggered nationwide Black Lives Matter protests calling for an end to institutionalized racism. To a large extent, Angie Thomas was inspired by police shootings and the Black Lives Matter Movement in writing this novel. In this light, this paper seeks to compare the novel and the Black Lives Matter Movement.

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Starr Carter is a sixteen-year-old girl who lives in a black neighborhood but attends school in an affluent suburb. She attends a party where she meets Khalil Harris, a childhood friend. When a gang fight interrupts the party, Khalil offers to drive Starr home. When they are pulled over by a white policeman, Starr places her hands on the dashboard as advised by her father, while Khalil questions the motive for the stop (Thomas). In the ensuing argument, the police officer fatally shoots him. The event negatively affects Starr's life, both at home and in school. She has the choice to either speak up, which would risk the safety of her family and hurt her friendships at school, or remain silent and become an accomplice to the injustice. She chooses the former, in a move that closely mirrors the Black Lives Matter Movement, which has given Americans a voice to speak against injustices in society. The news that the implicated police officer would not be prosecuted led to protests, similar to those organized by the Black Lives Matter Movement, in the neighborhood. Pressured by her conscience and her friends, Starr decides to testify against the police officer. Unfortunately, the jury decides not to indict the police officer, a common occurrence in the country, sparking riots. Even in the absence of justice, Starr vows to continue the fight not only for Khalil but also for all the other victims of police brutality.

The Black Lives Matter Movement, which started in 2013 following the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who had been charged with the murder of Trayvon Martin, has grown to become a campaign for social justice and rights (Day). Increasingly, the movement is being reflected in popular culture, with The Hate U Give being the most famous example. The book brings to the fore the unjust abuse and treatment that the black community has received from the country's law enforcement officers for decades. Most victims of police brutality in the country were unarmed. Shooting them, therefore, is seen as the use of excessive force (McClellan 1). Besides, it is interpreted as the propagation of the belief that black men are violent criminals, which has become institutionalized over the years. Khalil, in The Hate U Give, is unarmed, presenting the increasing number of black lives lost in this manner.

In an interview during the 2018 Chicago Humanities Festival, Angie Thomas stated that the novel was inspired by the horrors of police brutality as well as the hope of a change fuelled by the Black Lives Matter Movement (Chicago Humanities Festival). The novel, and its film adaptation, gained massive popularity because millions of African Americans across the country could resonate with the story. They could see themselves in the tragedy that befell Khalil, as well as the trauma that Starr experienced and the tremendous responsibility to speak about a vice that is so rampant in society. Starr was the only witness during the shooting. In the aftermath, she had to make the huge decision of whether to speak up about it or yield to the various pressures and remain silent. Whichever decision she made, it would significantly affect her family, community, as well as her relationship with her friends in the white suburban school.

Other than the issue of police brutality, which the Black Lives Matter Movement has come to be associated with, the campaign also calls for social justice and equality. The historic inequality between African Americans and the rest of the population has been widening over the centuries. Historical disenfranchisement has been blamed for this trend. For instance, owing to these injustices, most African Americans cannot acquire the very highest quality of education and hence cannot get the best jobs. Resultantly, their likelihood of upward social mobility is hampered. According to Day (2015), the unemployment rate for African American high school dropouts stands at 47% compared to 26% among white high school dropouts. Besides, while African Americans constitute only 13.2% of the country's population, they account for 37% of the homeless Americans (Day). Close to a million of the 2.3 million Americans in jails are also African Americans. The Black Lives Matter Movement demands that such issues must be addressed.

Angie Thomas brilliantly brings out this issue by contrasting the poor neighborhood in which Starr Carter lives with the fancy suburbs where she goes to school. By night, she inhabits the Garden Heights world characterized by drugs, gangs, poverty, and drive-bys, such as that which claimed the life of ten-year-old Natasha, an event that still gives Starr nightmares (Thomas). During the day, she attends a predominantly white school located in a wealthy suburb. Often, members of the black community, such as Starr, are torn between the two conflicting worlds. For example, she discovers that conforming to the standards set by her elitist friends at school would be a disservice to her identity and culture. Before Starr gains her identity after the shooting, she is forced to keep switching between the two worlds, a situation that many African Americans are too familiar with. She has two voices, and two faces and must inhabit two different worlds. However, the veil separating the two worlds falls when Starr witnesses the shooting of Khalil. The Black Lives Matter movement can be seen as a platform that seeks to give African Americans an identity and a voice. As seen when Starr decides to stand up for the truth, acquiring an identity and a voice brings the code-switching to an end.

The national division that the Black Lives Matter Movement causes is also captured in the book. Those opposed to the movement argue that it propagates violence (Rickford 40). For instance, the destruction of property witnessed in the recent protests gave such arguments some credibility. Resultantly, the movement has been demonized, and the claim that "Black Lives Matter actually provokes assaults on cops" has been propagated (Rickford 40). However, the statistics above help prove the existence of racialized poverty in the United States. While explaining the same to Starr, Maverick states, "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" (Thomas).

The title of the book, The Hate U Give, can be translated to mean hate begets hate. For decades, the African American population has been fed a consistent diet of vitriol and injustice. As such, hatred has been building up over the years, leading to explosions such as those seen in some Black Lives Matter protests. Starr states, "Daddy once told me there's a rage passed down to every black man from his ancestors, born the moment they couldn't stop the slave masters from hurting their families. Daddy also said there's nothing more dangerous than when that rage is activated" (Thomas). While Thomas does not take sides in the novel, the story seeks to show the roots of the anger often shown by African Americans. The author uses the Carters to show this anger. For years, they have watched their family and friends suffer. Regardless of this, anger cannot be termed as their defining characteristic. Through such depictions, the author bravely tackles one of the toughest topics in the United States. She also gives a window into the real conversations that happen in homes across the United States. As such, other than helping the African American community get a voice, the novel seeks to transform apathy into sympathy and empathy.

Besides, there have been efforts to blame the victims and sanitize the perpetrators of the crimes. A similar situation is witnessed in the book following the shooting of Khalil. The murder quickly turns into a national headline. While protestors pour into the streets to voice their displeasure, some people direct the blame at Khalil. He is accused of being a thug, a gangbanger, and a drug dealer. Starr's family is also threatened by cops in an attempt to suppress the truth. Starr's testimony and involvement in the case led to confrontations with her colleagues at the elite white school. For instance, during a basketball game, one of the students yells that had he pretended that the ball had been a fried chicken, she would have run faster (Thomas). A brutal face-off between the students on causal racism and All/Blue Lives Matter vs. Black Lives Matter ensues. The girl ends up accusing Starr of hypersensitivity and even insinuates that Khalil deserved to die, a path that opponents of the movement often take.

For many African Americans, the Black Lives Matter Movement has given them a voice to speak against the discrimination they face daily. As such, the movement has become one of the most potent weapons in the fight against institutional racism. Similarly, when tragedy strikes in the novel, Starr realizes that her voice is the biggest weapon. Regardless of the attempts to silence her, neither the police nor the drug lords could steal this weapon from her. Young people around the country are increasingly following in Starr's footsteps and raising their voices against injustice. For instance, it is not uncommon to see The Hate U Give signs during Black Lives Matter campaigns (Leach). Several protestors have stated that reading the novel informed their decisions to be more involved in the movement (Leach). To this end, therefore, the novel can be seen as a tool that has helped galvanize readers and get them into activism.

In a close resemblance to the Black Lives Matter Movement, The Hate U Give helps the readers see the effect of institutionalized racism on individuals, families, and communities. Starr's life, as well as that of her family and friends, significantly changes owing to her involvement in Khalil's murder case. However, regardless of the threats and opposition she faces, she chooses to stand for the truth and speak against injustice. The novel, therefore, is a call for all Americans to use their voice, which is their greatest weapon, to speak against injustices, such as the rampant cases of po...