The Hate u Give may be not as prose heavy as I enjoy, but it’s real, it’s gritty, and it’s sobering. The MC, Starr, is believable, her unique situation parallels dual cultures like a reverse Save the Last Dance where instead of the white chick going to an all black school, it’s the black girl at a white privileged prep school but still lives in a black community. The author parallels it to Fresh Prince. There is all sorts of content that may be triggering for young adults from parties where drinking, drugs, and slut shaming is rampant. Also, violent situations and lack of social justice are themes for The Hate U Give, so I’d rate it Pg 14.
Some books are worth the triggers.
With all that said, the real issues facing blacks are presented in such a deep way that it will gut anyone. Some powerful quotes reveal themselves in this book:
“At an early age I learned that people make mistakes, and you have to decide if their mistakes are bigger than your love for them.”
“Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.”
My personal favorite. “That’s the problem. We let people say stuff, and they say it so much that it becomes okay to them and normal for us. What’s the point of having a voice if you’re gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn’t be?”
“I can’t change where I come from or what I’ve been through, so why should I be ashamed of what makes me, me? That’s like being ashamed of myself.
Or a whole conversation revolving around why there is so much crime in black communities and why the marginalized there have very little say and choices. Pretty much a lot of what Martin Luther King Jr. preached.
This is not a hate white people book. I come from white privilege and I own and recognize how prominent harmful mentalities stemming from my culture are to blacks, how they reflect on them poorly, and the subsequent anger that arises from those mentalities, those stereotypes and tropes. Blacks are not a pet project that require saving as many slave masters viewed in times past. Nor are they such a menace that we need to separate our pretty, white picket-fenced lives from theirs so we don’t get stained. Or even ignored and left to their own devices and communities where lack of opportunity is prime, where violence grooms children in different ways, and where those with power either act as vultures swooping and others take no responsibility to help or cannot help or become dead themselves.
I also love how this book captures little moments. These shooting stars shine on issues such as sexuality and #metoo, hired labor of minorities, interracial dating, how trauma impacts one, and more.
A profound and impacting book for young adults but one I’d suggest many parents reading, too so they can explore these issues with their kids in the right context and with the right conversations. A perfect book series for adults to read subsequently is the After 12 Series. If She Were Blind is the first.
P.s. The Hate U Give is an abbreviated rap phrase by Tupac for The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody. Acronym: Thug Life
The Hate U Give conversation
“Why was he a drug dealer? Why are so many people in our neighborhood drug dealers?”
I remember what Khalil said—he got tired of choosing between lights and food. “They need money,” I say. “And they don’t have a lot of other ways to get it.”
“Right. 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 than it is to 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 to 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.”
“I hear you, but Khalil didn’t have to sell drugs,” I say. “You stopped doing it.”
“True, but unless you’re in his shoes, don’t judge him. It’s easier to fall into that life than it is to stay outta it, especially in a situation like his. Now, one more question.”
“Really?” Damn, he’s messed with my head enough.
“Yeah, really,” he mocks in a high voice. I don’t even sound like that. “After everything I’ve said, how does Thug Life apply to the protests and the riots?”
I have to think about that one for a minute. “Everybody’s pissed ’cause One-Fifteen hasn’t been charged,” I say, “but also because he’s not the first one to do something like this and get away with it. It’s been happening, and people will keep rioting until it changes. So I guess the system’s still giving hate, and everybody’s still getting fucked?”
Daddy laughs and gives me dap. “My girl. Watch your mouth, but yeah, that’s about right. And we won’t stop getting fucked till it changes. That’s the key. It’s gotta change.”
A lump forms in my throat as the truth hits me. Hard. “That’s why people are speaking out, huh? Because it won’t change if we don’t say something.”
“Exactly. We can’t be silent.”
“So I can’t be silent.