Why Is The Hate U Give Important

In the novel The Hate U Give written by Angie Thomas, The main character Starr struggles with speaking out about the death of her childhood friend Khalil due to threats from gangs, police, and not wanting to betray her community. The novel is mostly about the crooked shooting of Khalil by a police officer, and how Starr reacts. Throughout this book, Starr deals with fear of speaking out about her friend’s death and what really happened the night of the crime.

One of the biggest reasons for Starr's fearfulness of speaking out about the death of Khalil is because of the gangs within the community she lives in. In this novel, Starr is constantly reminded about speaking out against the police officers and the gangs running in the neighborhood.

Once she joins the protest she is distorted from all the emotions from the unlawful killing of Khalil and the lack of action from the authorities, yet she seems happy that the community has started a peaceful protest. She yells through a bullhorn at the protest, “Everybody wants to talk about how Khalil died,” I say. “But this isn’t about how Khalil died. It’s about the fact that he lived. His life mattered. Khalil lived!” I look at the cops again. “You hear me? Khalil lived!” (Thomas, pg. 412) Prior to the protest, Starr decides to go on the interview and talk about who Khalil was, why this is so important, and how her and the community is being affected by police brutality. She says, "It seems like they always talk about what he may have said, what he may have done, what he may have not done. I didn’t know a dead person could be charged in his own murder, you know?” (Thomas, pg. 288) She also states in the interview, “You wish that more cops wouldn’t make assumptions about black people?” she clarifies. “Right. This all happened because he”—I can’t say his name—“assumed that we were up to no good. Because we’re black and because of where we live. We were just two kids, minding our business, you know? His assumption killed Khalil. It could’ve killed me.” (Thomas, pg. 290) Throughout the rest of the interview she continues to talk about the importance of this cause, getting justice, police brutality, and also talks about the gangs and gang related activity going on in her community, which causes lots of conflict throughout the