The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas is an incredible first novel that portrays, what I believe to be, the most realistic portrayal of the reality of police violence in 2018. It follows Starr, a young black teen who lives between her two worlds. She balances her own identity between her life in Garden Heights and her primarily white private school. Leaving a party one night with her childhood friend Khalil, she witnesses the horrifying event that changes her life forever. Khalil was pulled over and was asked to get out of the car for no particular reason. He was unfortunately shot and killed by a police officer while unarmed, reaching for his brush. This novel follows the aftermath of this event and how Starr is impacted by this tragedy. This novel for me was the narrative we've been missing and as an educator is the novel we've been waiting for. After reading this novel I immediately thought how this would be a great addition to the many novels in our curriculum. This is extremely relevant and something that would start that conversation around social justice education and antiracism. 

 In this novel there is internal conflict for Starr to use her voice to bring justice to Khalil or to stay silent. This theme of conflict in the novel can start the conversation that we mention multiple times in class of active racism and passive racism. We see multiple perspectives of her friends from her private school, the gang members from Garden Heights, her father (retired gang leader), the news reporters and the list goes on and on. This is a great way to get students thinking critically about the all too real reality of police violence that occurs in the novel. How is Khalil portrayed? Why is he portrayed this way? Who is doing something about it? Why is there no justice for Khalil? Does Starr have a responsibility to speak up? Is she wrong for being hesitant? These are all great questions to dive into deeper as the novel progresses. Then what do we do with all of this? We then can connect it to real world scenarios and the countless movements that have occurred because of the same injustices that happened to Khalil. I know I said it before but Ill say it again. This novel is the story that accurately depicts the sad reality that we are living in 2018. It's heavy, but really dives into these difficult topics that our students are not oblivious to. Using this novel will create that conversation of why is this novel so important? How does Starr's activism resonate with you? Is it admirable? Is she wrong for 'fighting back'? Which then creates their own self reflection of, "would you join the movement?, would you let your voice be heard? Why or why not? Where have you seen this kind of movement before? etc. There are endless opportunities to incorporate social justice education and antiracism with this novel.The novel is also becoming a movie this October which after reading would be a great follow up to see her novel come to life.

Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 21, 2018 at 10:57 AM

    I had a feeling at least one person was going to mention The Hate U Give, which is why I decided to not pick it lest we have nine of the same blog posts, but it looks like there were a few other choices put into the mix so far. Even though this novel is a long one and the subject matter is really difficult to process, it's so thought provoking and just right for the unfortunate circumstance the world finds itself in right now. I remember the first time I sat through it and I took that book everywhere with me. It came with me if I had to go to the bathroom. It was just that compelling. There were several moments such as Khalil's death where I had to just pause for a long time because it was such a gut punch of a moment. Teaching it I think requires a gentle hand to walk students through the harshness, but the Black Lives Matter movement is the hub of social justice right now and we've got to address it.

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  2. Michelle McCabeSeptember 21, 2018 at 12:14 PM

    I had the same feeling as Katie - I KNEW someone would pick it. It is such a powerful novel and totally relevant to bring into the classroom with the racial climate that we live in today.

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