The Hate U Give

overview

• The Hate U Give is an amazing and emotional story about racism and its effects on our modern world.
  • “Garden heights has been a battlefield for the past two months over some stupid territory war. I was born a “queen” ‘cause daddy used to be a King Lord.” (17)

major settings

• Garden Heights: Starr's family lives in the Garden Heights neighborhood, a black majority neighborhood where there are many drug dealers. In the book, racist people generally view it as a terrible place even though there are mostly really good people trying to earn a living, such as Starr's dad at his grocery shop or Mr. Lewis's barber shop. A couple bad gang members ruin everyone's reputation. 
  • Quote: "I wouldn't understand fighting over streets nobody owns." (17)
• Williamson High School: Starr goes to a white-majority school far from her house. It is a private high school where many rich families attend.
  • "The campus has new, modern buildings with lots of windows and marigolds." (69)
• The Settings’ Significance: Starr switches from different personalities when she is in her different settings. 
  • She tones down aspects of her identity, like how she talks at home, when she is at school. 
  • She ends up feeling like she doesn't belong in either setting. 
  • In her neighborhood, people can make fun of her for going to school in a mostly white school. At school, she thinks she is hiding parts of her, like knowing Khalil who was murdered
  • She doesn't want to be labeled as different or deserving pity at school
  • Quote: "I suddenly remember how different I am from most kids here" (76)

historical connection

the civil rights movement and Malcolm X

• Between 1954-now
• For the equality and advancement of black Americans
• Black panther 10 point plan
• Malcolm X
• Justice system and oppression of black people 
• “Because the Ten-Point Program didn’t work for the Panthers. Huey Newton died a crackhead, and the government crushed the Panthers one by one. By any means necessary didn’t keep Brother Malcolm from dying, possibly at the hands of his own people. Intentions always look better on paper than in reality. The reality is, I may not make it to the courthouse in the morning.” (321)

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the black panther’s 10-point plan

1. WE WANT FREEDOM. WE WANT POWER TO DETERMINE THE DESTINY OF OUR BLACK AND OPPRESSED COMMUNITIES.
2. WE WANT FULL EMPLOYMENT FOR OUR PEOPLE
3. WE WANT AN END TO THE ROBBERY BY THE CAPITALISTS OF OUR BLACK AND OPPRESSED COMMUNITIES.
4. WE WANT DECENT HOUSING, FIT FOR THE SHELTER OF HUMAN BEINGS.
5. WE WANT DECENT EDUCATION FOR OUR PEOPLE THAT EXPOSES THE TRUE NATURE OF THIS DECADENT AMERICAN SOCIETY. WE WANT EDUCATION THAT TEACHES US OUR TRUE HISTORY AND OUR ROLE IN THE PRESENT-DAY SOCIETY
6. WE WANT COMPLETELY FREE HEALTH CARE FOR ALL BLACK AND OPPRESSED PEOPLE
7. WE WANT AN IMMEDIATE END TO POLICE BRUTALITY AND MURDER OF BLACK PEOPLE, OTHER PEOPLE OF COLOR, ALL OPPRESSED PEOPLE INSIDE THE UNITED STATES.
8. WE WANT AN IMMEDIATE END TO ALL WARS OF AGGRESSION
9. WE WANT FREEDOM FOR ALL BLACK AND OPPRESSED PEOPLE NOW HELD IN U. S. FEDERAL, STATE, COUNTY, CITY AND MILITARY PRISONS AND JAILS. WE WANT TRIALS BY A JURY OF PEERS FOR All PERSONS CHARGED WITH SO-CALLED CRIMES UNDER THE LAWS OF THIS COUNTRY.
   10. WE WANT LAND, BREAD, HOUSING, EDUCATION, CLOTHING, JUSTICE, PEACE AND PEOPLE'S COMMUNITY CONTROL OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY.

modern connections

• The Hate U Give is relevant in our modern society as police brutality and community violence are 

  prevalent topics in America today. The book also deals with subject matter such as economic and financial disparities between races, and racism between the protagonist, Starr, and her white peers at school.  The racism Starr faces at school is generally less noticeable than the more extreme forms seen when she witnesses the murder of her friend at the hands of police at the book’s opening.  One such incident is her friend, Hailey, remarking, “D*mn it, Starr!  Hustle!  Pretend the ball is some fried chicken.  Bet you’ll stay on it then.” (111)  Starr also juggles two different personalities between her lower-income and black-majority home and her wealthy, essentially all-white school.  

identities

• Starr grows up in a poor neighborhood full of violence, drugs, and gangs.  This is all anyone on the outside see’s but her community is also a family full of love.  She struggles throughout the book, switching personalities from Starr and “Williamson Starr”.  She is automatically cool at her mostly rich white school because of her “blackness”, but she says “It's dope to be black until it's hard to be black.”  She is afraid that people at Williamson will see her as an “an angry black girl” from the “ghetto”.  She has to censor herself and keep her temper, and grammar in check more than any of her peers.  Starr is strong, kind, and most of all brave.  She is the sole witness to the murder of her friend, and despite threats against her life, she testifies at court.  Her mom says “Brave doesn't mean you're not scared. It means you go on even though you're scared.” 

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