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Bravo, Angie Thomas! Gripping, insightful, honest. Well done.
In case you were wondering why 'U' was used instead of 'YOU', in the title, it's because it's comes from the acronym 'THUG', which is borrowed from a hip hop group called, Thug Life. One of the members, Tupac Shakur popularized the the full acronym: The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everyone, which is the group's name. You can't deny how true this statement is.
THUG (book) is a fiction, but I didn't learn this until I was finished with it. With all of the unnecessary police brutality going on in the world, this could have very well been a true story. What happens in the book has happened and continues to happen in today's crazy world.
This book covers many hot topics: racism, police brutality, gang wars, poverty, drug dealing, society's skewed opinion in reaction social media and other news media, activism, protests, interracial couples. This all stems from a major event at the beginning of the book: a shooting of an innocent black youth by a white cop. You really need to think about the root cause and Angie does a great job of taking us on a journey as she explains the root cause through the main character's experience and conversations throughout the book.
There is a powerful conversation about midway through the book between the main character Starr and her father about why people (in their neighborhood Garden Heights) sell drugs. This may not be the reason everyone sells drugs, but in their hometown, they are left with no other choice. From birth, through childhood, some people are put in horrific situations where they either follow the orders of a gang leader, or risk getting killed. How do you prevent this? What's the root cause? The answer is, Hate. But, how do you stop the hate?
Hate, prejudice, racism, greed. These are somehow embedded in the human race since they have been prevalent for so long, but I feel a lot of it is taught. You compound these factors and you create neighborhoods like Garden Heights. The saying, 'nip it in the bud' comes to mind here - the 'bud' being the root cause. This is where change needs to happen. If much of hate is taught, there's hope. Even if hate is naturally developed, if people communicate, share stories, imagine yourself in someone else's shoes, there's hope.
Don't make assumptions and judge until you know the full story. Regardless of skin color, background, upbringing, education - we're all human. We all deserve each other's respect and benefit of the doubt. We live in a complicated world. Communication and understanding each other is sometimes difficult, but I promise the effort is worth it. This is how we eliminate the hate.
Wikipedia article link: The Hate U Give
Audiobook narration by Bahni Turpin (Amazing performance here! Highly recommend the audiobook)
