Movie The Hate You Give Full Movie

[Yvone Brem]

Of course, I was delighted and more than a little proud that Elijah was able think in more broadly and incisively analytical ways both about the novel and the world. As I reflected further, though, it also occurred to me that the traditional categories through which we are trained to analyze literature and, by extension, our larger world constrain us, even divert us, from accurately and fully comprehending the power dynamics and relationships at work in the systems we inhabit.

Most prevalently, I would suggest, we are taught to focus on our social challenges as rooted in the behaviors of individuals (or, in the case of a novel, characters) rather than as systemically conditioned, as the inevitable products of the power dynamics, relationships, and operations of the social world we as humans have created, and into which we socialize our population.

It troubled me that Elijah experienced uncertainty in himself rather than having a greater comfort in recognizing, as he did, the insufficiency of the categories framing the questions he was supposed to answer. What I witnessed, when he came to me, was a young mind trying to unshackle itself from the easy categories so often socially bestowed on us for seeing and, more to the point, making judgments about the world. He wanted permission, in his uncertainty, to let go of this way of understanding literature and the world precisely because this way does not contain or even encourage a genuine, accurate, and complex understanding the world.

One could go on discussing the complexities of the novel, but the point is that The Hate U Give challenges us to think beyond individuals as antagonists and protagonists and to think about the systems we create informed by their own distorted and inhumane moralities, that operate in racist ways to criminalize people of color, segregate neighborhoods and schools, economically marginalize people of color, and constrain opportunities, and so forth. While our current legal system subjects individuals to special kinds of prosecution for behaviors it deems hateful, Thomas in The Hate U Give, while obviously representing individual behaviors as racist or hateful, also asks us to think about the ways hate and racism are features built into our overall social system, not merely individual behaviors that exist despite, or as aberrations from, the system. Rather the hateful and racist behavior of individuals Thomas represents as expressions and consequences of our social system, not as violations of the norms and values of that system.

This is not to say that people of color do not violate laws and deal drugs and engage in gang activity; rather, it is to say, as the novel asks to us to see, that people of color, like all people, are multidimensional and make good and bad choices and also that racism creates a world of much more constrained and difficult choices for people of color. The novel asks us to understand these socially and economically constrained contexts that condition individual behaviors.

I pushed Elijah to think about where Starr got her value system; about who supported her emotionally, spiritually, and financially; about who taught her and provided guidance and models for her. Many nurture, guide, parent, provide for and teach Starr. Her father, Big Mav, takes his guidance from the Black Panthers, Malcolm X, Tupac, and the figure he calls Black Jesus, among other sources; and these legacies and cultural traditions make Starr who she is and shape the choices she makes.

She herself in the novel learns to become an activist because of the activist lawyer who represents her; because of the history of political resistance and movements in African America; because of Tupac, Will Smith, and other cultural producers; because of her parents and her extended family; in short, because of many forces and traditions that have shaped her. It is too narrow to say Starr is the protagonist.

Understanding the historical, social, and cultural forces and traditions that shape us is crucial for us in understanding not just who we are and how our world works but also for understanding how we can change the world and become what we want to be. Arguably, taking this approach will also help us understand that we are stronger together, that we as individuals are only possible because of all of our co-protagonists.

Welcome to a special Love Letters edition of Windows & Mirrors where we feature books that provide us windows to lives outside our own and mirrors to our shared common human experiences.

The reason we started Windows & Mirrors was to show books that both allow under-represented people to see themselves in books and to give others the chance for a window into an experience different than their own.

Angie Thomas was born, raised, and still resides in Jackson, Mississippi as indicated by her accent. She is a former teen rapper whose greatest accomplishment was an article about her in Right-On Magazine with a picture included. She holds a BFA in Creative Writing from Belhaven University and an unofficial degree in Hip Hop. She is an inaugural winner of the Walter Dean Myers Grant 2015, awarded by We Need Diverse Books. Her debut novel, The Hate U Give, is a #1 New York Times Best Seller. Film rights have been optioned by Fox 2000 with George Tillman attached to direct and Hunger Games actress Amandla Stenberg attached to star.

If there is no continuous love, support, and truth-telling to remind us that our black bodies, our black history, and our black lives matter, then as a means of survival, we learn to hate, to build walls, to hustle, and to rely on the only person we can trust: ourselves. But eventually, those survival tactics can start to fail, and we must come to grips with who we really are and what that means for the life that we are called to live.

The Hate U Give directed by George Tillman Jr, is every bit the powerful, moving film the trailer promised it would be. With standout performances from both Regina Hall and Russel Hornsby, the piercing spear of fear of being Black anywhere, but specifically in America, is shot through the center of the film. Several of my own personal worst nightmares were projected back at me while watching.

Solange told us in A Seat at the Table that Black women have a right to be angry. I left The Hate U Give furious. I cried for about 15 minutes afterward. The contemporary nature of the film leaves no room for escapism. This is not a film that allows you, for even a moment, to hope that children will be unaffected by the hate that surrounds them. It faces that issue head-on and challenges audiences to do something about it.

Here we present an interview from Jessica Lahey, teacher and the author of The Gift of Failure and her niece. Reviews by a teenager (niece) and a parent (aunt) give us a unique comparison of perspectives. And you might be inspired to read this powerful book with your teenager.

Starr straddles two very different worlds. One is her home in Garden Heights, a black, poor, and often violent neighborhood. The other is Williamson Prep, her white, affluent, and cosseted private school. Thomas deftly articulates the line between these existences by making Starr code-switch in her dialogue. (Code-switching, the practice of shifting languages, dialects, or cultural contexts in different settings, is a common experience for many people of color in the United States.)

When Starr witnesses the murder of her childhood friend Khalil during a routine traffic stop, Starr must decide whether to risk her anonymity and safety in order to stand up for him. Khalil was unarmed, and Starr is called on to testify against the police officer who killed him.

ANGIE THOMAS: (Reading) When I was 12, my parents had two talks with me. One was the usual birds and the bees. The other talk was about what to do if a cop stopped me.LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST: That's Angie Thomas reading in the voice of her narrator, Starr Carter, early on in her debut novel.THOMAS: (Reading) Mama fussed and told Daddy I was too young for that. He argued that I wasn't too young to get arrested or shot. Starr-Starr, you do whatever they tell you to do, he said. Keep your hands visible. Don't make any sudden moves. Only speak when they speak to you.GARCIA-NAVARRO: Starr Carter is 16 when she confronts the exact situation her father warned her about. She's in the car with her friend Khalil when he is shot and killed by a cop. The case becomes national news, putting a dichotomy in Starr's life into even greater relief. She lives in Garden Heights, the gang-ravaged neighborhood where her father keeps his store, but she goes to school at Williamson Prep, where she's only one of a handful of black kids. The book is called "The Hate U Give." It's a hotly anticipated book. It's gotten rave reviews, and it's Angie Thomas' debut novel. She joins us now from Jackson, Miss.Welcome to the program.THOMAS: Thank you so much for having me. I'm honored to be here.GARCIA-NAVARRO: It's a pleasure. Can you describe the two Starrs we meet in the book?THOMAS: Well, the two Starrs, I think a lot of young African-Americans can relate to because there's this whole thing of - that we call code switching. At Starr's neighborhood, Starr is known as Big Mav's daughter. Her father was a former gang member, and he's turned his life around. But there's also his past that sometimes is brought up.But there's Williamson Starr who does not speak about where she's from. And it comes from a small place of shame, but it's also a place of trying to fit in because she's in a school where it's mostly white and it's mostly upper class. She has classmates who are driving Benzes (ph), whereas she's dropped off every morning. So she has to try to figure out who she is where she is. And once this unfortunate event happens in her life, the struggle becomes even harder.GARCIA-NAVARRO: You talk about how code switching is something that African-Americans have to do a lot. Is it something you have experience with?THOMAS: I absolutely have experience with it. I went to a mostly white upper-class private college here in Jackson, but I was from a neighborhood that is known for all of the wrong reasons and, for lack of better words, we will call it the hood. So I knew I had to fight against the stereotype of being a ghetto girl, and I had to fight even harder to show that I was intelligent and that I was capable of being there, just like my counterparts.GARCIA-NAVARRO: You just mentioned that you went to a mostly white college, similar to Starr, your main character. Is that the model? Is - did you use your experiences in informing how she is presented in the book?THOMAS: Absolutely. At the time when I was in college, Oscar Grant had just lost his life in Oakland, Calif. He was an unarmed young black male who had a record. And at the time when his death was making headlines, more people were talking about what he had done in his past than the fact that he unjustly lost his life.And at my school, I heard a different conversation than I may have heard in my neighborhood about Oscar. At school, he may have deserved it. At school, he was in the wrong. But at home, he was one of our own, and we knew Oscar and we saw Oscar every single day. And the only thing I knew how to do at the time was write, so I actually wrote the short story that would later become "The Hate U Give" while I was a senior in college.GARCIA-NAVARRO: So the central catalyst of the novel is the death of Starr's old, dear friend Khalil. Is that modeled on Oscar?THOMAS: A little bit, yes. And honestly, there was inspiration from a lot of these cases that we see with unarmed black people losing their lives. Michael Brown - when he lost his life, there was more focus on what he had done sometimes than what was done to him.And I looked at Khalil because I know Khalils. I see Khalils every single day. I grew up with Khalils who have made decisions that may not be the best. But at the time when Khalil is in his last moments of his life, his past should not have an effect on what happens to him in that moment. So Khalil is a combination of a lot of what we see with young black men, particularly, when they lose their lives.GARCIA-NAVARRO: She gets a lot of support throughout the book, your character Starr. There's a lot of people helping her on her journey. At the end, she kind of leans towards activism. Do you want that to be something that your young readers take away from this?THOMAS: Well, I do, and I also want them to realize and understand that activism has different forms. We're seeing young people find their own voices and find their activism. We are seeing, like, Marley Dias, for example, who is doing the 1,000 Black Girls Books (ph) drive. We're seeing that. That's a form of activism.And I think when - with Starr, she does find her voice through a certain form of activism, but that's because of the situation she was in. But I hope that it helps other readers - helps readers understand - excuse me - that they can find their voices as well and that their voices matter. I think that's the big takeaway from the book, is that Starr realizes her voice matters.GARCIA-NAVARRO: The title of the novel is taken from Tupac Shakur. Was he an influence on you and your writing? And tell us about the title of the book.THOMAS: Absolutely. I often say that I want to write like Tupac rapped. I could listen to his album and within a few minutes, I could go from thinking deeply to laughing to crying to partying. And that's what I want to do as a writer - I want to make you think at times; I want to make you laugh at times; I want to make you cry at times - so he was an influence in that way.But also, the title itself comes from the tattoo that he had across his abdomen that so many people know him for, that thug life tattoo. And what people don't realize is that it actually stood for, the hate U give little infants effs everybody (ph). And he explained that as meaning that what society feeds into youth has a way of coming back and affecting us all. And in the novel, we see that in the form of riots. And we see that in the form of anger and frustration. Even we see it in Starr and how she feels after seeing this unfortunate tragedy take place. I couldn't get the whole thug life in there.(LAUGHTER)THOMAS: It would have been a long title. But that really got to the core of what I was trying to say and do in the book.GARCIA-NAVARRO: Angie Thomas' new novel is called "The Hate U Give."Thanks. It was great to talk to you - really.THOMAS: Thank you. Thank you so much.

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