The Hate U Give

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We have all heard about the new movie called The Hate U Givehitting theaters this October, but when we were given the chance to read the book in class I was very excited. We all know that often times a book will explain a story much better than a movie. By the movie trailer you could tell that this movie was going to be about a young black boy getting killed by the police. Although we did not know the full backstory or what said or done it was intriguing to many people already just because this is a big issue that we are facing today. 

My overall reaction to this book was to this book was that is was realistic. I truly enjoyed that the author Angie Thomas made sure to give the real facts behind what we are experiencing within the black community today. Although we know that this problem did not just start we do see how the issue has started to progress. We see movements such as the Black Lives Matter movement where they protest and shout the names of the men and women that are killed by police. The craziest part of most of these killings are that the people who are in the car with the person who was murdered was recording it right on their phone and most of the time the police will still see no prison time and will just be suspended from work at the moment. The only question I really had was the reason the movie made it seem as if Khalil reached in the car for his hair brush but in the book he looked in the car to check on Star. Star is the main character and fights for justice after the death of her good friend. 

My connection with this book is just being a part of the black community myself. I have heard many talks with my aunts and uncles telling my cousin and I that when we are pulled over to be very cooperative. The message is being directed more towards the boys but they also told the girls in my family because we see that women such as Sandra Bland also dealt with police brutality. I could definitely connect this book to The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian because while Star is at school with mostly white kids and dating a white boy, she also lives in an all-black community and is protesting for the life of her friend Khalil. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and this would definitely be a book that I teach within the classroom because it is powerful. 

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