“The Hate U Give” directed by George Tillman Jr, is a heartbreaking yet empowering story of a young girl named Starr and her experiences as she becomes the witness to her friend’s death (Khalil). From these traumatic experiences sprout the decisive task of how Starr goes about to obtain justice or not.
What I thought from this film is that Starr was surprisingly hesitant to be a voice to gain justice and speak up for Khalil. Personally, if it were me and one of my friends I would immediately stand for what is right without hesitating. It made me think a lot about how lucky I am to feel able to do this. How different a place and life I live in compared to Khali. How so many things that I take for granted, simply do not exist in Khali’s life.
I see the struggles of her split identities between schools, and from that, I can see how the power of judgement can really affect someone’s view of themselves. Seeing Starr break through this barrier presents to me how empowering the need for justice is. For something to be left unfair will sit in the back your mind until you can’t hold it in any more and you explode with the need for justice. This can be seen in the film when Starr lets go of her fear and reveals herself as the witness by yelling out to the public. She states, “We will not stop until the world sees it too.” This empowerment can be seen through the increase in low angles showing Starr’s strength of her voice in this scene where she speaks up to the crowd. The story inspires me to be brave and stand up for I believe in, for things that are important to me and not to be silent when things are unfair. “What’s the point of having a voice if you are going to be silent in those moments you shouldn’t be?” Starr says.
Starr is brave and her character inspires others to speak out and stand up for the truth. No one should ever be restricted from speaking the truth. Seeing a girl such as Starr after many years of learning to stay quiet and not speak up for her own safety to stand up in the end against all fear and shout her truth is empowering. It is empowering to anyone, of any race, of any skin colour, of any gender, that equality and justice can be found when you speak up. I find the words her father gives her are the most impacting, “When you are ready to talk you talk. Don’t ever let nobody make you be quiet.” Teaching us that your voice is your own and you should never step down from your beliefs. An example of this in today’s current media is a 16-year-old girl Greta Thunberg. She has stood up for her beliefs of climate change to make a difference in this world. She has advocated her beliefs through the power of her voice and she has impacted our society in doing so. I find these representations of the power of using your voice encouraging to speak up and stand out in this world. Even though as teenagers we are young, our opinions still deserve the right to be heard because I believe a younger, fresh perspective and voice is what the world needs.
This film deals with important racial issues that America and other countries continue to struggle with every day. Even the point where we learn that the cop has never struck out like this before and how it impacts on his life. The fact that he has been influenced by racial prejudice that he has brought up around. The reason for his actions stereotypes of black people causing him fear that caused him to shoot a young black man. I can’t imagine what it must be like living like Khali does in her life. I consider myself lucky to not have to deal with the racial issues that she lives with as part of her daily life. She says “When I was 12, my parents had two talks with me. One was the usual birds and bees, the other was about what to do if a cop stopped me” in the movie this refers to how her dad teaches her to put her hands on the dashboard of the car and not move if pulled over by a policeman. In America, African Americans are 2.5 times more likely to be shot than white people (study by Frank Edwards). The study showed that 1 in 1000 black boys will be killed by police in their lifetime. For white boys and men, the rate is 39 out of 100,000. This has also raised the question, is this because more black people commit crimes or do we just assume that based on taught racial bias?
This is supported in the film when Starrs uncle, who is a cop, shares how he reacts in a situation. “As a cop, there are so many dangers going through your head”, and he outlines to us how if someone reaches into a car to grab something after you have asked them not to move, how easy it is to let yourself jump to conclusions. He states, “A lot goes through a cop’s mind when they pull someone over. … We run their licence and instruct them not to move. But if they open a door, or reach through an open window, they’re probably going for a weapon. So if I think I see a gun, I don’t hesitate. I shoot.”
He then contradicts himself when she questions him about if they were white and he says “I’d say put your hands up,” rather than shoot. Coming from another cop we see that the police system is not the problem, it is not the odd person, it is the racial stereotypes that may have once occurred so now is believed forever. This is what truly must be fixed. The way people are taught to think and the way we are brought up living of the past history far too much.
So in regards to the cop who shot the boy, is it that his racist thought is what he may have grown up with and that he is not the real problem? It is the beliefs that are still being projected onto people from birth? This isn’t me believing he isn’t guilty, but what I think the film portrayed is that the true injustice in the world is the racial prejudice based on skin colour.
This shows how unjust the world is when it comes to the racial outlooks and from this movie I have truly seen this as a real problem. The unfairness based on simply your skin colour makes such little sense for if you were to look a little deeper every person is the same no matter their race or the colour of their skin. The true message I think comes from this film is that no one should be told where they stand in this world based on the colour of their skin.