The Hate U Give, written by Angie Thomas, highlights the life of a teenage girl, Starr, who has to live somewhat of a double life. In Garden Heights, the ghetto neighborhood she lives in, Starr can speak and act ‘black’. But the second she steps into Williamson, a mainly white private school that she attends, she hesitates to use the slang she would normally use. When she’s back at home, it is not surprising for her to hear gunshots at night, unlike her school friends, who live in peaceful suburbs. One night, Starr and her childhood friend, Khalil, went for a drive, and they got stopped by a cop. Khalil stepped out of the car, and before Starr knew it, he was dead. Now the second death she has witnessed in her life, Starr has to decide how she will bring justice to Khalil’s tragic death, as she was the only witness the night of his death. This book stood out to me because it is about police brutality, a topic I that I’d like to get a better understanding for. I was curious to learn about the subject from the perspective of Starr, a person greatly impacted by the violence that killed her friend. Although Starr and I are both girls and around the same age, we have many differences. To start, Starr is African American while I’m white. I am privileged to live in a safe neighborhood, but Starr lives in the ghetto and struggles to feel safe at home. Starr and I both go through similar ‘struggles’ of school, time management, etc. However, my problems seem like nothing compared to Starr’s, because I don’t have to feel on edge whenever I see a police car or worry about my house getting damaged in riots. From reading The Hate U Give, I learned never to judge a person based off of a single thing they have done. The death of Khalil was often glossed over because people called him a thug and a drug dealer. Some even went as far as to say that his death was a good thing or that it was bound to happen eventually. Khalil did, in fact, sell drugs, but only for the purpose of paying off his mother’s debt. “‘He didn’t wanna sell drugs, Starr,’ DeVante says. ‘Nobody really wanna do that...Khalil ain’t have much of a choice though.’” Khalil, unfortunately, got stuck into the system of selling drugs, but that did not justify his death in any way. After reading this book, I’ve learned not to jump to conclusions before I get to know someone. Often there is more to a person than what meets the eye. By Cady P
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AuthorSTenth grade students at Decorah High School share how they're reading outside of their own experiences and how it has changed them. Categories
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November 2022
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