The Hate U Give: A Printz Honor Winner

You should read this. This book should be read. This book should be read by everyone, including people who already agree with its premise. A young black girl witnesses the police murder her unarmed black male friend. Already, this story is framed to tackle the issue of police brutality and Black Lives Matter, but what's great about this book is that it manages to tackle a wide, wide variety of issues. It isn't just tackling the fact that far too often black people are murdered at the hands of the police. It tackles the unfair, systemic circumstances that all too often plague minority communities: lack of opportunities, drugs, poor educational systems, all of which are created by the powers that be (read: white powers) and are kept in place by the powers that be to keep minority communities down. It tackles interracial relationships and putting on a front to fit in with different communities. It tackles having to balance keeping your head down and standing up for what's right. It tackles why it's not okay to make a racist joke.

It also tackles so many of these issues without making it feel too staged. The lessons and wisdoms from this book don't feel like traditional force-fed morals a la Aesop, where it feels like the book is yelling at you to get it. Yeah, some of the morals and messages do hit brutally hard, but to me they felt like a surprise, not like an obvious thing. And even if they didn't always hit with the most subtlety, I don't know that I care. The ideas and messages of this book, I feel, are too important right now to convey to worry overly much about subtlety. The protagonist herself goes through several moments of epiphany and you feel it along with her. But what comes out of it are worthwhile messages that need to be heard these days.

Like:

Khalil, the boy who was shot and killed by the policeman, was dealing drugs. But that doesn't mean his life was any less valuable.

DeVante, a boy who gets involved with one of the main drug lords of the neighborhood, messes up a couple of times. But that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve a second chance or a support system.

Hailey, one of the protagonist's best [and white] friends, made a racist joke a few years ago. Just because time has passed doesn't mean it's okay.

Maverick, Starr [the protagonist]'s father, decides to move his family out of the neighborhood because it's become too dangerous. But that doesn't mean he can't still help uplift the neighborhood.

The policeman kills a young black boy because he was scared of him. Your fear based on unfair assumptions does not absolve you of the murder of a child.

And maybe one of the most important ones for me, from my perspective as a teacher, just because they don't look like children doesn't mean they aren't children.

This book had a lot of uncomfortable ideas but these are the ideas we as a society have to come to terms with in order to try to move forward. The title comes from a 2Pac song: "Thug Life: The Hate U Give Little Infants F Everybody". And this is essentially what this book is about. It's about how there are system in place that are inherently, egregiously unfair to black people, particularly in areas like the projects or "ghettos" and how these systems f*** everybody. They f*** the young people and it grows and comes out in so many ways later in their life, even against each other. Khalil dealt drugs because his mother was a druggie and owed the gang lord money. He was dealing drugs to pay off her debt so the drug lord wouldn't come kill her. She probably got hooked on drugs because they were available when she was young, she had few options, and they probably made her feel better about her life. Is anyone really helping her or even able to help her now? Probably not too much. If she was killed by the drug lord, would anyone do anything about it? Probably not. Who else is getting f***ed? Her kids. Who then aren't getting the support they need to be successful in a system rigged against them and so it starts again. This book is about how Khalil was killed because he was black and the cop was scared and so the cop shot. He didn't stop to actually care if Khalil was carrying anything, he didn't care enough to check and see if the object in the door was a gun. It was a hairbrush, and he shot before Khalil could even have a chance to figure out what he had done wrong. And this book is about how those systems made it okay for Khalil to get shot and killed and how it's actually anything but okay and something needs to be done about it.

And this book isn't some crazy "what-if" scenario type of book. At the very end of the book, Starr lists off the names of a bunch of other black people who have been murdered by the police. And I knew their names, even without the last names. Tamir. Tamir Rice, who was a 12-year-old boy playing with a toy gun in a park and was shot by police without them even checking to see if it was a real gun. Sandra. Sandra Bland, who was left by the police to die in her jail cell. Trayvon. Trayvon Martin, the young black boy who was essentially killed because he looked too black. Philando. Philando Castille, who was unarmed and shot in his car in front of his girlfriend and her daughter, who bled out in front of them. These are real, actual events happening all over this country right now, and these same types of tactics are employed in the aftermath. How many bad things have I heard about Michael Brown from Ferguson to try and make it seem like he did something to warrant his own death? Like he was asking for it? Like he deserved it? I've heard a lot of things. Fact is, though, he still didn't deserve to die.

And I think that's what this book tries to get across. Life is messy and complicated but we should all try to understand more of the nuances and help each other. Ask questions BEFORE we shoot, not after. Try to understand people as people, not as what we think they're going to be like. And there are plenty of examples of people figuring it out and doing okay and living good lives in this book. I liked that a lot about this book. Starr's father, Maverick, turned his whole life around. He's a great man and a great father. I love that. Her uncle is a great man, too. That's nice. She has a white boyfriend who, for all the times he maybe put his foot in his mouth, tries really hard to understand and supports and loves her through all these difficult times. Iesha, a woman who may not be the best mother ever but took a beating for her children, knowingly and willingly. The people in this book are complicated and interesting and very, very human, and I like that.

On a side note, I really, really liked the positive portrayal of black people who are controversial in the white community essentially for stirring up the black community (i.e. giving the black community something to take pride in). The characters in this book talk a lot about Malcolm X, the Black Panthers, 2Pac... These real people are important and are not really considered "safe" or popular in the mainstream white worldview. I can use my life as the best example. When I was growing up, I barely heard about any of those people. Malcolm X was usually described as "the opposite of MLK" and the details were left out. The Black Panthers I probably didn't really hear about until college and I definitely didn't hear many good things. But when I started teaching black history, I started looking for myself at those people. Granted, I'm only in on a cursory level so far, but it seems to me that Malcolm X had some pretty good ideas about black people taking pride in themselves and their community and trying to rise up. It seems to me like the Black Panthers fed a lot of kids and helped a lot of needy people and gave their communities a sense of belonging and pride. It seems to me that 2Pac was more than just a rapper. It seems to me that white people could do a lot worse than trying to take a second glance at their own preconceived notions. It seems to me like character assassination happened to way more people than just Khalil. It seems to me like character assassination is an easy way to let your feelings of guilt be assuaged when someone, particularly someone of color, is killed in cold blood. It seems to me like this book makes it a lot harder for a white person to look the other way.

That is, if they read it. Which they should, but what I'm afraid of is that only people who already support these ideas will read this book. I already support Black Lives Matter. This book reinforced my notions of how unfair the world is for black people. I'm not the person whose attitude needs radically changing (though I am completely sure I always need adjustments -- I am not black and will never truly understand the challenges that come with being black). And unfortunately, those people are probably not likely to pick this book up. And also, unfortunately, because it uses the "f" word about 10,000 times, it probably won't get taught in school like it should.

But it should. It should be taught. It should be read. You should read it. This is my ramble and this is what I believe. Books have the power to change how we think and feel and this one is trying to do that for the betterment of our whole damn country. It should be read. And absorbed. And we should never stop trying to change things for the better.

This book was everything, EVERYTHING!!
So many moments made me want to cry, I couldn't help but see Starr's life though my daughter's lense. Growing up with similar fears and concerns. It hurts so bad, it hurts to think about these things but the best way to honor people is to actually THINK about it, read about it, talk about it. Maybe a hashtag movement isn't made, but the fact that someone can take this information and allow them to be transformed, to evolve their mindset, all it takes is for them to understand. And this book is a door, a passageway into the understanding. The least you could do is read this. Let it impact you, then be a supporter in anyway possible. My heart hurts, but it hurts so good.
So many moments that made me laugh my butt off, and so many sweet family moments that gave me chills. This book is so much... So much of everything that I need. That we all need. You need to read this. If you have an audible credit, I suggest using it for this.

The book is well written for the YA genre and timely in its content. It can spark important conversations on many different topics and simply should never have been considered for a banned book list.

This is a book that everyone should read. Period. Powerful story, well written from Starr's perspective. This book is in your face and I loved it!

This was a very well written book. I think it did an excellent job portraying the police violence and reaction to the injustices in the black community. I love that it came with an anti-racism guide and a discussion guide. Highly recommend!