¨What’s the point of having a voice if you’re gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn’t be?¨- Angie Thomas. This quote is from the book The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas. The Hate You Give is a book that covers heavy real-life topics. I believe that this book is very realistic and covers topics everyone should be aware of today. The main focus of this book is the justice system and the racism that goes on in today’s world. The main character juggles between her school life and her home life. Her mother is a nurse and her father owns a grocery store. She lives in a mostly African-American community with her siblings Seven, and Sekani Carter. Starr attends a mostly white private school 45 minutes away from where her home is. Starr is a teenage girl who goes through a traumatic experience that changes her life and the world around her.
Starr lives a good life. She goes to a private school, has a boyfriend, has close friends, but things take a turn after she goes to a party. Starr goes to a party with a friend and ends up leaving with another friend named Khalil. While Starr and Khalil were on their way home a cop pulled them over. Since Starr was a kid her father always told her certain rules about when you get pulled over by a cop. At first, she didn’t understand why she was always taught these rules, but after how the night ended she understood. A white cop pulled Khalil out of the car because he wasn’t following the rules, Khalil reached over to Starr and started joking around with her. Three shots were fired straight at Khalil which instantly killed him. This experience changed Starr, a teenage girl should not have to go through a traumatic experience like this. Khalil was shot because the cop thought Khalil had a weapon on him when in reality it was a hairbrush. Over time Starr went through many different emotions, like sadness, betrayal, anger, and she had to cope on her own. This is not the first time Starr has gone through something like this. When she was a kid she lost one of her closest friends due to a drive-by. Starr is angry at the world and the people around her. Why is the world so full of hate?
Starr was asked to speak to the judge about what happened. Khalil deserves justice. ¨Brave doesn’t mean you’re not scared. It means you go on even though you are scared,¨ Angie Thomas. Starr was scared, she was not ready to speak to the judge at all. Speaking out was important. It relied on her to get Khalil the justice he deserved. Even after everything she went through, all the anger and sadness, Khalil did not get his justice. The cop was pled not guilty after he committed a crime that deserves time in prison. This made everything around Starr change. Protests began, things started spreading on the internet. ¨.People like us in situations like this become hashtags, but they rarely get justice. I think we all wait for that one time though, that one time where it ends right,¨ Angie Thomas. I think this part of the book is very important because this also happens in real life. On the internet we always see black people that have been killed due to unfair circumstances. The people on social media try their absolute best to spread the word and speak out on how unfair the justice system is. But we never get to see the outcome that the person deserves. In the book Starr is too afraid to join these protests. She’s too scared to speak out on her experiences with racism.
Starrs silence didn’t last long. Starr realized what was going on around her had to change, every voice matters. Starr decided to fight back. She stood up against her racist friend Hailey. Hailey has always said things to Starr that she let go past her head. But it is her time to stand up for herself and Khalil. Starr decided to join the protests and movements that supported the black lives that have been lost in her community and around the world. Starr was tired of not using her voice. She tried to be heard but was ignored. She didn’t stop there. Starr gave it her all to have her voice heard. She stood on top of a car, grabbed a microphone, and spoke out on her experiences with racism and the unfairness in the justice system. Starr finally felt heard. She used her voice for good, and she was proud of herself. Speaking out is a very important part of spreading awareness about an important issue. In today’s world, people are starting to speak out more on issues. I think this is a great thing because the world is full of hate and it needs to be changed. The more people speak out on a topic, the more people are educated. ¨Your voices matter, your dreams matter, your lives matter. Be the roses that grow in the concrete,¨ Angie Thomas.
In conclusion, Starr´s character growth was one of my favorite character developments. She started as a girl struggling to juggle between her home life and her school life. She ended as a strong woman who spoke out about her experiences with racism and injustice even though she was scared too. I think The Hate You Give is a great book for young adults who are trying to find a book that educates them on what happens in real life. This book has also been made into a movie. The movie is great for people who want to visualize what happens in the book. In my opinion, the book is better than the movie and the book has so many more details on Starrs backstory.