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Bibliophiles of the internet, my name is Adriana and today
I'm here to talk about "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas.
This is #ownvoices black fiction inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement.
The story is about a character named Starr, who's torn between two worlds.
While she lives in an underprivileged, impoverished neighborhood, she attends and expensive prep school
on the other side of town called Williamson.
The two sides of her life collide when she becomes the sole witness to her childhood friend, Khalil,
being shot and killed by a police officer while unarmed during a "routine" traffic stop.
Suddenly, everyone has an opinion on her neighborhood, her community, her friend, and Starr must decide
if she's going to lay low and protect her privacy or if she's going to speak out where Khalil no longer can.
I think this book is a triumph, because it's so unapologetic. It's full of fire and anger;
it's fueled by a marrow-deep exhaustion. And every word of it is warranted, every word of it is necessary.
The story shows a mastery of voice. No matter whether Starr is in Williamson or Garden Heights,
you can see her actively code-switching in her dialogue, but you never lose track of that authentic sense
of self that's present in her voice throughout.
What immediately captured my attention was that sense of awareness—the way Starr is about to recognize
microagressions—and microagressions, for that matter—with pinpoint precision, and then accurately put
into words the kinds of damage they can cause.
I think that in itself is an important part of derailing racism and privilege—asking ourselves:
Why do we put up with this? Why, when someone makes an offensive comment, is our initial reaction
to laugh it off and let it go? What's REALLY underpinning the widespread acceptance of racism?
But the story also explores how silence—for whatever reason—becomes tacit compliance by omission
that enables the further perpetuation of racism and prejudice.
What's so great is that it's not a story set on placing blame or casting any one group in a negative light.
It's definitely not anti-police or anti-white, but it does explicitly touch on the real roots of systemic oppression
and who exactly benefits from this system.
It actually reminded me a lot of the book I read before this, "Pachinko" by Min Jin Lee, in that it shows
that there are two main functions of systemic racism: 1) To make sure that the oppressed KNOW
that they're oppressed, and 2) To make sure that the oppressed stay that way.
There are consistently certain groups of people that lose out. Systemic gate-keeping is very much a thing.
It's prevalent, it's dangerous, it ensures that certain groups of people stay at the bottom, so that it's socially
acceptable for others to chastize them and discriminate against them because they're at the bottom, so that
eventually, in turn, they teach THEMSELVES never to expect anything different.
So the story really picks apart why it's not easy for Starr to speak out and become a public icon.
Speaking out is hard enough, but the fact is that we still live in a time wherein "the public" is a volatile space.
There are so many tiny ways that the dominant have made it very much unsafe, or in some cases
even impossible, for the marginalized to say...anything, really.
And coupled with that, the story really has that awareness that—to this day—black people are still seen
as things, as objects. They're publicly dehumanized so regularly and so often that people see them as
a concept they're entitled to comment on or as an abstract stance they can be against.
Which is obviously unacceptable and ridiculous.
I mean, once Khalil is shot and killed, suddenly everyone Starr knows has an opinion on him, his decisions,
on the most private parts of his life. Some people say he deserved to die, others are furious at the level of
injustice surrounding his case. Either way, Starr can't protect herself from everyone,
and that's definitely something that she's struggling with in this story.
I also appreciate the discussion about personal grief versus public or collective grief, and how the nationwide
spread of Khalil's death makes it that much harder to accept, because now he belongs to everyone and no one
all at once.
The longer his case drags on, the more "evidence" is discovered against Khalil that seems to condemn him
to ***, simply for existing, simply because of where he came from, what he looked like, where he was
at the time. "Evidence" that seems to exonerate the police officer of any guilt.
And the more Starr hears, the more she suffers, because she's trying so hard to resist the public turning Khalil into
a cautionary tale; the media and complete strangers, even friends, dead set on vilifying his existence
and tarnishing their neighborhood, manipulating circumstances to fit "criminal intent."
She goes through so much trying to hold onto the friend that she knew. The fact that she knew him, knew him
completely, knew his heart, the fact that she cared about him, that so many others cared about him,
the fact that his life had meaning and that it mattered is something that nobody can take away—
—and Starr goes on an incredibly difficult journey to understand that.
And that journey is one of the most astounding aspects of this story. Starr starts off as so afraid and unsure,
and for very good reason, and by the end, she's truly come into her own—as a woman, as a force to be
reckoned with, as an activist.
She knows exactly who she is and what she stands for, she knows what she has to do and what can no longer
go without saying. And getting to witness that growth is so important.
In the end, this story is about family. It's about community and collective identity. It's about people
who are a mixture of good and bad—a combination of the choices they made and choices that were made
for them and about them. It's about people banding together and looking out for their own.
It's about uniting to upset and undo the endless ways they seek to divide us.
"The Hate U Give" is unapologetic, unafraid. It's celebratory and dignified in the sense that it has
absolutely no regard for anyone else's standards or judgments, and that is the mark of an incredible,
honest book.
All I can say is that it deserves every ounce of recognition it's received since its release.
So those are some of my thoughts on "The Hate U Give." Of course any additional contributions
and thoughts of your own are more than welcome in the comments below.
But that is everything I had for this review today. Thank you so much for watching this video.
I really hope that you enjoyed it, and I will catch YOU on the flip-side of the page.
Bye!
[♫ snazzy end screen music ♫]