The Hate U Give

The Hate U Give

YA/adult fiction
"Khalil doesn't move. He doesn't utter a word. He doesn't even
look at me. His body stiffens, and he's gone. I hope he sees God.
Someone else screams.
I blink through my tears. Officer One Fifteen [badge number]
yells at me, pointing the same gun he killed my friend with."
Can you imagine seeing a friend who has broken no laws shot in
cold blood by a police officer? This is a plight too many black
Americans have been put in. It's also the episode that starts off
Angie Thomas' The Hate U Give, a fine debut novel that humanizes and
hopefully stirs compassion for people most of us only catch glimpses
of in news stories.
Khalil was Starr's best friend when they were little kids. Now
he's dead. People are angry that another black boy has been slain by
someone mandated to serve and protect. There is little to no trust
that a grand jury will indict the officer involved. In Starr's
neighborhood anger explodes into protests and rioting.
When Starr was ten she saw another good friend killed in a drive
by. Her parents had enrolled her in a mostly white private school.
To fit in both her worlds she has to switch between two personas.
"...Williamson Starr doesn't use slang--if a rapper would say
it, she doesn't say it, even if her white friends do. Slang makes
them cool. Slamg makes her 'hood.' Williamson Starr holds her tongue
when people piss her off so nobody will think she's the 'angry black
girl.' Williamson Starr is approachable. No stank-eyes, side-eyes,
none of that. Williamson Starr is nonconfrontational. Basically
Williamson Starr doesn't give anyone a reason to call her ghetto."
A number of Starr's rich, white classmates see Khalil as a
thug: a drug dealer and gang banger. One thinks the cop did
civilized society a favor by pulling the trigger.
How will the neighborhood in which Starr's family lives and her
father has a store react if the grand jury refuses to indict the cop?
Read the book and see.
I was happy to learn that Thomas has a second novel coming out.
I'll be sure to read and review it.
On a personal note, my life continues to revolve around school
and work. I did enjoy some of the Coming Out Week events. I attended
the Rainbow Resource Room open house and tea party, shared my story of
coming out as gender fluid at the first ever Coming Out Monologues,
tie dyed tee shirts for myself and my top supervisors, and stuffed a
darling moose and dressed them (my moose is gender fluid like me) in a
UMaine shirt. I got my flu shot. I discovered a little free library
that had three books I was very eager to read. I could trade three
others for them.
Great big shout outs go out to all who made Coming Out Week sensational.
jules hathaway


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