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The Hate U Give Enters the Ranks of Great YA Novels

The bestselling young-adult book by Angie Thomas looks at police violence through the eyes of a teen girl.

“They finally put a sheet over Khalil. He can’t breathe under it. I can’t breathe.”

The last words of Eric Garner, adopted and amplified by the Black Lives Matter movement, echo again in the early pages of Angie Thomas’s young-adult novel The Hate U Give. By the time she’s 16, Starr Carter, the protagonist of the book, has lost two of her childhood friends to gun violence: one by a gang drive-by, and one by a cop.

As the sole witness to her friend Khalil’s fatal shooting by a police officer, Starr is overwhelmed by the pressure of testifying before a grand jury and the responsibility of speaking out in Khalil’s memory. The incident also means that the carefully built-up boundary between Starr’s two worlds begins to crumble. For years, she has spent her weekdays at a private, majority-white school, where she explains, “I’m cool by default because I’m one of the only black kids there.” Back at home, she lives with her father “Big Mav,” a former gang-member who wants to make their crime-ridden neighborhood a better place, and her mother Lisa, who wants to move away in order to keep her family safe.

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Now in its third consecutive week at number one on The New York Times bestseller list for young-adult novels, Thomas’s debut novel offers an incisive and engrossing perspective of the life of a black teenage girl as Starr’s two worlds converge over questions of police brutality, justice, and activism.

Thomas’s book derives its title from the rapper Tupac Shakur’s philosophy of THUG LIFE—which purportedly stands for “The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody”—and it’s a motif the novel returns to a few times. The acronym tattooed across Tupac’s abdomen could be read as an embrace of a dangerous lifestyle. But, as Khalil explains to Starr, just minutes before the cop pulls them over, it’s really an indictment of systemic inequality and hostility: “What society gives us as youth, it bites them in the ass when we wild out.”

This question of appearance versus reality recurs throughout The Hate U Give . Starr, familiar with perceptions of her neighborhood, community, and herself, code-switches to adapt to her environment and others’ expectations. After the shooting, a new narrative—one that paints Khalil as a drug dealer threatening a cop—surfaces, but an emboldened Starr challenges this simplistic framing of her friend. The novel goes on to raise cogent and credible counter-arguments to the flattening narratives often presented by authorities and echoed by many media outlets in shooting cases involving young black males.

As a book written for teens, The Hate U Give reminds readers of just how often racialized violence is carried out against that age group (Michael Brown was 18 when he was killed; Trayvon Martin was 17; and not-yet teen Tamir Rice was 12). And it illustrates how young people of color who might speak out to defend their late friends are unfairly criticized, as happened to Rachel Jeantel when she testified against her friend Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman. Thomas’s novel keenly understands the dangers of defaulting to the cop/vigilante versus “thug” framing device: The deceased get put on trial, rather than their killers.

The Hate U Give has many of the markers of a typical young-adult novel, too: At times, Starr feels judged and out of place in school, she’s navigating a friendship with a “mean girl,” and is a year into her first real romantic relationship. But each of these plotlines is inevitably complicated by race. For example, Starr hides her white boyfriend from her father. “I mean, anytime he finds out a black person is with a white person, suddenly something’s wrong with them,” Starr explains. “I don’t want him looking at me like that.” She’s wary, too, of sharing her role in the investigation at school because she doesn’t trust one of her closest friends to be sympathetic to her situation, and she feels self-conscious about the easy stereotyping of her neighborhood as “the ghetto.”

Thomas’s intimate writing style and the novel’s first-person perspective taps fully into Starr’s shock, pain, and outrage during the shooting and its aftermath. As a result, The Hate U Give allows some readers to see the complexity of their lives mirrored in literature; for others who may be removed from Starr’s experience or haven’t lived through similar tragedies, it can help generate deeper understanding.

In addition to being an engagingly written story, Thomas’s novel is a vital new contribution to the white-dominated publishing industry. Lee and Low Books’s 2015 Diversity survey found that about 80 percent of industry respondents were Caucasian. And while the number of black characters in children’s books has grown over the past decade, the Cooperative Children’s Book Center found that the number of books written by black authors has held relatively steady. In 2016, out of 3,400 new children’s books counted, 278 were about African Americans—a record for 12 years of surveying. But, out of the thousands of books the center receives, the number of African American writers has hovered between 70 and 100 for the same time period.

Appealing to readers across age, not just race, is a goal for Thomas as well. In a recent interview with Cosmopolitan , she explained , “‘Young adult’ is a critical age, and I knew that if I showed Starr going through these types of things, I could provide a mirror for some young adults and a window for adults—a lot of [whom] read young adult books—who might bring open hearts to a story that I told from her perspective, when they might normally look at a topic like this and say, ‘No.’” But thanks to Thomas’s absorbing storytelling, those who read The Hate U Give will be right beside Starr, grappling with understanding entrenched prejudice, where it comes from, and what role she—and those at home—have in exposing and combatting it.

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The Hate U Give

'the hate u give': a critique of modern day american society amy jenkinson 12th grade.

The United States of America has progressed so far in terms of equal rights for all of its citizens that when one looks back at the USA of the past, a country that widely exercised the use of slavery, modern day America is unrecognisable in contrast. However, even with such great strides being taken to create an equal society, equality is still a topic that is highly debated. The America that civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr dreamed of, an America in which black people would not be judged on the color of their skin, is not the America that is presented to the reader in Angie Thomas’s ‘The Hate U Give’. ‘The Hate U Give’ focuses on the inequality faced by black Americans in the 21st century and the vicious cycle of poverty and crime in much less fortunate communities. Angie Thomas uses the novel to critique this society through her presentation of police brutality and racism.

It is within the second chapter that one of the most significant moments in the novel occurs, in which Khalil, a young black man and friend the black sixteen-year-old protagonist, Starr, is shot by officer One-Fifteen even though he is unarmed and has done nothing to indicate to the officer that he is a threat. Khalil’s death is described in...

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Social issues YA novels can be terrible. The Hate U Give is a stunning exception.

It’s a smart, warm-hearted book that takes on police shootings and systemic racism.

by Constance Grady

The Hate U Give is a didactic issues novel for teenagers. It is also a good book. Those two categories intersect only rarely, but The Hate U Give — a debut novel by Angie Thomas — manages the balancing act with aplomb.

Sixteen-year-old Starr grew up in a poor black neighborhood, but after she saw her best friend gunned down in a drive-by gang shooting when she was 10, her parents sent her off to a wealthy white private school.

Starr rapidly becomes an expert in code switching, saying “ew” at school and “ill” at home; dancing at school, where she knows everyone will assume she’s cool because she’s black, and observing at home, where she would have to work harder to earn her coolness. At school, she hangs out in a white girls’ clique and laughs about her middle school obsession with the Jonas Brothers. At home, she hangs out at her father’s grocery store and talks about how Drake is her future husband.

But all of Starr’s careful work to keep her two worlds separate falls apart when a police officer shoots her childhood friend, Khalil, in front of her. It’s the latest police shooting of an unarmed black man, and the case becomes a national scandal. Starr is the only witness.

At school, her friends talk about how Khalil was a drug dealer who probably deserved it. At home, gangs use Khalil’s death as an excuse to expand their turf wars. Whenever Starr talks to the police, she has to remember that one of them shot her friend and then held her at gunpoint. It’s a vivid, intimate portrait of how systemic racism works to forbid Starr any truly safe space of her own — and of how she builds one anyway, with the help of her deeply supportive family.

It was probably inevitable that someone would write a YA novel about police shootings, but it was not inevitable that it would be a good book. Whenever a societal problem becomes a national obsession, some adult will write a book about it for teenagers; usually the result is a Go Ask Alice – style stew of fearmongering and breathless sensationalism.

But The Hate U Give is charming and funny and carefully crafted, and Starr’s witty, observant, pop culture–inflected voice is a delight. There’s a scene early on where she’s trying to decide how to play things with her boyfriend after a minor transgression on his part: Does she want to go full-on ’90s R&B breakup song, or should she be gentler, like a Taylor Swift song? (“No shade,” she adds, “I fucks with Tay-Tay, but she doesn’t serve like nineties R&B on the angry-girlfriend scale.”) Then it comes to her, the perfect solution: She’ll Beyoncé him.

The specificity and whimsy of ideas like the anger scale of breakup songs is what keeps The Hate U Give moving so deftly through its heavy subject matter; it stays warm and focused and grounded in character even when it’s dealing with big, amorphous ideas like systemic racism. The result is a book so thoughtful and so fun to read that you’ll want to Bruno Mars it.

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Book Review: “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas

The Hate U Give is a timely, character-driven story packed with moments of fear and love, heartbreak and humor set in Garden Heights, its title born from a Tupac quote. Starr Carter has seen more death than her young years should allow, with lives discarded in the crossfire of a messed up social hierarchy. Witnessing another moment of brutality, Starr finds herself forced to confront the systematic racism within law enforcement and the wider culture it serves.

Sixteen-year-old Starr lives in two worlds: the poor neighbourhood where she was born and raised and her posh high school in the suburbs. The uneasy balance between them is shattered when Starr is the only witness to the fatal shooting of her unarmed best friend, Khalil, by a police officer. Now what Starr says could destroy her community. It could also get her killed. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, this is a powerful and gripping YA novel about one girl’s struggle for justice.

What Charlie thought:

With a sharply honest, heartbreaking, humorous, and engaging writing style, you can’t help but keep turning the page to find out what happens next. It will crack you up and break you down with its razor-sharp insight and clever tongue.

Starr is drawn in a startlingly clear first-person narrative, with code-switching dialogue woven throughout Thomas’s powerful prose to show Starr both at home amidst family and in the halls of the predominantly white school she attends. Starr herself is a multifaceted protagonist who shows a real teenage spirit, at once tender-hearted, sweetly loyal, funny, flawed, justifiedly tired, hurting, smart, fiercely brave, and demanding of justice. Angie Thomas’s fearless narrative offers a steady gaze at white complacency while centering its black protagonist with familiarity and understanding. It interlaces its serious moments with music, excellent kicks, and a tongue click at and a shrewd eye for mainstream pop culture. Looking at Starr’s dad’s take on Potter Houses and gang mentality will change your life. Starr’s final battle will steal the breath from your lungs.

You will be incredibly moved, horrified, enraged, and energized by this much-needed story. It is full of tears and laughter, unfettered fears and furious joy, family and friendship. For fans of All American Boys , Noughts & Crosses , Allegedly , Orangeboy , and Terror Kid. Movie rights have been sold to Fox, with Amandla Stenberg to star. Put it at the top of your 2017 reading list and share it with all.

I asked fellow blogger Sahina to share her thoughts with us as well, for a more in-depth review. Stay alert for spoilers ahead.

What Sahina thought:

Holy mother of feels. This book. This book. THIS BOOK. Can you tell my nose is flaring, I’m breathing hard like my fat-cat-Garfield-like-self? That rarely happens, except for when I finish a book and feel like I’m about to spontaneously combust. But less about my internal emotions and more about this book.

While this may be one book, there are so many stories told within it. So, so many. A story about racism. About stereotyping. About our current social climate. About interracial couples. About friendship and loyalty. Family. (Has the word “about” started to lose all meaning to you too? About time, eh?)

Angie Thomas has written one of the most relevant, moving, and fiercely powerful stories of this year, of many years even. She’s given a solid, authentic, and undeniably moving voice to a movement, to a group of marginalized and hurt people who are being killed in broad daylight at the hands of the system meant to protect and serve – simply because of the color of their skin. As a Muslim woman myself, who wears a hijab, I have had my fair share of verbal abuse, endless streams of stereotyping, and rude comments, but the plight of black people, the plight born and raised in the #BlackLivesMatter movement, is far more dangerous and, horrifically, far too common. There are many, MANY groups of people, races, and faiths, that are marginalized and abused – but in this current day and age, none more so than Muslims and black people. Yet if you put one of each in a car in current-day America, who do you think is more likely to be stopped, stereotyped on the spot as a thug, and shot at for no reason?

There’s so much in this book that makes you sit up and take notice, really hone in on what’s going on, both on the surface and under the radar. Angie takes on a lot of really hot topics, and despite being a debut author, with her flawlessly on-point narrative and honest commentary through her character of Starr, shines (pun intended) light on issues such as the drug industry and the vicious cycle of damage it causes in black neighborhoods. These “thugs” in her story are mostly borne of unfortunate circumstances and poor prospects for their future, which pushes them into this cycle and never lets them leave. The media, its representation of minorities, and the tragic way in which it can distort reality, makes people see and believe what it wants them to, sometimes without even saying a word. Racism, the many faces of it, whether intentional or not – like even a simple comment about fried chicken being thrown out there – is racism. You may not be a racist person, but that sure as hell doesn’t stop you from making racist remarks. Intentional or unintentional, it’s racism, white privilege, and prejudice at its best.

At the heart of it all is the issue of police brutality, how all it takes is one single misinterpreted moment for your life to literally come crashing down around you. For your life to be taken . And all you will hear about it is the race of the person killed, the color of their skin, their age, and their stereotyped persona – in that order. Black teenager, aged 18, killed in connection with suspected drug cartel and in possession of a gun. Often not even a name, no mention at all that they might have been a straight-A student, a kind boy who helped around the neighborhood, unless of course it’s a white person. In which case their name, followed by their many accomplishments and possibilities of a scholarship or promising athletic career, are the first things you’ll hear about. Layers and layers of positives to hide the dirty deeds of rape, or assault, or the fact that they stabbed an unarmed, innocent black person in the back simply because he was black. Can you tell I’m angry? I am. You should be too . We all should be . This story, about unarmed Khalil, is more than just a story, though brilliantly told – it’s the reality of black people in this day and age.

The characters in this story are outstanding . Every single one. Starr, her courage and fear – both go hand in hand in making her an extremely relatable, honest, and raw character to perfectly move this story forward. Her parents and family – whom I simply adored, especially her uncle – were heartwarmingly real, putting the needs and wants and safety of their children first and foremost. Her dad, whom I especially loved, was such an important character – he didn’t coddle Starr but nudged her to be her own person, to be brave, whether or not that meant putting a target on her back, because as her dad, he would always have her back and wouldn’t let anything happen to her. He wanted her safe, but he also wanted her to be honest, unafraid, unashamed, and fierce – for her voice to be heard. Starr’s uncle – a police officer himself, who bruised his knuckles on the man who dared point a gun at her. Her half-brother Seven, who jumps in the middle of a fight to protect his sister in school. These black men aren’t meant to be heroic and glorified, but rather these are what real, normal, black men are. Family men, men who love and protect – not molded to fit the stereotype of thug, gangster, druggie. Starr’s white boyfriend, Chris – though this book wasn’t about the romance, throwing that in there was another great move from the author to highlight not only the differences in Starr’s world versus Chris’s but also how, through understanding and communication, these differences and why they matter to each can strengthen a relationship.

There’s so much to say about this book – the characters, the story, the love and the loss, the feelings it gave me when reading it, and the many, MANY moments I was brought close to tears. This is such an important book that dissects facets of our society – the flaws, the pitfalls, and also the hopes for the future about human resilience and courage. But also, it’s a fantastic book in itself, written with such authenticity, from a black author, weaving together not just some of the most important parts of our history, but also bringing together a book worthy of reading and, weirdly, enjoying, as there was laughter, sadness, and so much more hidden under the many layers of this story. Characters that stand out, events and dialogues that really pack a punch – this was one hell of a debut from Angie Thomas, and I would trade my left arm to read more of her writing in the future. Believe every word of hype about this book and then some – because you will not be disappointed. You will laugh, you will learn, and you will hopefully come out the other side just a little bit more aware, a little bit more attuned, and a little bit more courageous.

You can also find Sahina’s review on her blog, Reading In Between The Lines .

Copies of this book were provided by the publisher for review.

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The Hate U Give Book Review

Title: The Hate U Give Author: Angie Thomas Type: Fiction Published: 2017 Pages: 438

“Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.”

The Hate U Give is a young adult novel whose protagonist, sixteen-year-old- Starr, witnesses the murder of her friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. She is shocked and deeply heart-broken, but it stirs something inside of her which makes her realise that she needs to use her voice to get Khalil’s story heard. Raising questions about race and police brutality, this book is an important insight into what is unfortunately all too much of a reality. But The Hate U Give uses Starr to make us chillingly wonder, even though Khalil’s death was wrong, what’s the chance of him ever actually receiving justice?

Everything I’d heard about this book had been great, and I knew that reading it would be enjoyable, but I think books with so much hype are always dangerous, because they have an expectation to live up to what everyone’s said. Thomas’ writing was enjoyable from the get-go and I loved Starr as a protagonist – she was realistic, as were her relationships with the other characters in the novel too.

What I also liked about this book is how empowering it felt; Starr obviously has to go through a horrible ordeal, but through it, you can see the way she realises things about the world around her, and about how she should use her experience to help other people, and more importantly, get justice for her friend. Throughout the course of the novel, you see her grow from a young person, into someone who is a force to be reckoned with.

Obviously this book is great for showcasing black culture, but it was also disconcerting to read; when Starr says that at 12-years-old, her parents taught her sex education, and what to do if she’s stopped by the police, as a white reader, this felt unnerving to read when you realise that it’s the reality for black children growing up in America.

Unfortunately, while reading, I couldn’t get away from the feeling that the whole thing just felt quite long. It was 438 pages, and usually YA novels are great for the speed in which you can read them. However, there were unnecessarily long sections of dialogue, and I thought all the scenes were all dragged out slightly, and so overall, it was about 50 pages too long.

This is an important story to read regardless of how much I did or didn’t enjoy the writing style, and for that I think it’s worth picking up. Starr is an interesting character and I like how much it sheds a light on a situation which is all too familiar in real life. I also love how Thomas, like Starr, has used her position to start a conversation and try and make a change, which I think is one of the reasons reading, and books, are so great, so for that, this book is very commendable.

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‘The Hate U Give’ — A book review

Soumya Tiwari

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“Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.

If you are an avid book reader then I am pretty sure you have heard about The hate u give by Angie Thomas and how it calls out issues such as police brutality and racism. There was so much praise surrounding this book and I was super excited to read it.

The story’s lead is Starr Carter, a 16 year old black girl who switches back and forth between her two worlds; her school Williamson Prep, where she is one of the two black people in her grade and Garden Heights, her suburban black neighborhood where she grew up.

The story starts with Starr going to a party in her neighborhood with her half brother, Seven’s sister Kenya. Starr feels isolated at the party and ends up reconnecting with her childhood best friend Khalil. Khalil offers to drive Starr home and that’s when the tables turn, Khalil and Starr are pulled over by a white police officer with the badge number One-Fifteen. Khalil questions the motivation for the stop, and One-Fifteen orders him out of the car and searches him. One-Fifteen commands Khalil not to move, and returns to his car. Khalil opens the door to check on Starr. And that’s it, One-Fifteen fires three shots at Khalil. Starr watches him die not able to do anything for him.

The book follows the growth of Starr from being an introverted girl who was afraid to speak up against racism and accepting things for how they are, to someone who stands up and is not afraid to stand up for what’s right.

What I really appreciated about the book was that the story not only focuses on the broader issue of being discriminated on the basis of color but also on bits of casual racism. It tries to highlight how even words that meant no harm or weren’t said in a racist sense can affect someone in an entirely negative way. Starr’s friend Hailey constantly makes racist comments about her as well as Maya, who comes from an Asian American heritage. Hailey when confronted about this doesn’t sympathize or tries to understand what it means to be treated a certain way simply because of your culture, color or heritage.

I also loved the way family dynamics is portrayed in the book. Starr’s family consists of so many complicated characters. Her dad Maverick runs a grocery store. Maverick was a gang member and went to prison for three years when Starr was a child. Her uncle, Carlos who is like a second father to Starr. Her mom, Linda who’s a tough yet caring mother. Her half older brother Seven and her younger brother Sekani. We see so many conflicts between Maverick and Carlos and how Seven always cares about his other sisters more than Starr, but whenever things went down they were ready to fight together as one!

The most asked question in the book is did Khalil deserve to die?

People talk about how he was a drug dealer or how he was talking back to the police officer or how he would have been a bigger threat. But how does any of it matter when the police officer barely knew his name, Khalil was unarmed at the moment and there were no drugs found on him or in the car.

This book is real, honest, and it’s going to be uncomfortable at times. But being uncomfortable is important because a lot of us don’t know how it feels to be assumed as a threat because of we look or who we are, and that doesn’t mean that such a mentality doesn’t exist. The book sends out an important message and it is surely worth a read.

What did not work for me:

Yes, the book is supposed to be about racism but most characters feel like a walking stereotype. The book has no gray areas. Everything is just black and white (pun intended!) . All the black characters shown to be into rap music, Jordans, do drugs, deal drugs, part of a gang, gang leader and curse. There are dialogues in the book where the black community prejudices the things white people do as well. If the book is supposed to be against racism, the message should be clear, prejudice against white people is just as bad as prejudice against black people.

Written by Soumya Tiwari

Software Engineer, book lover, music enthusiast. Always curious! Happy to learn. Happy to help. Instagram: @womenwhocare.in Goodreads: https://bit.ly/35nsxFy

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Literary Analysis of The Hate U Give

Categories: The Hate U Give

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Words: 764 |

Published: Apr 29, 2022

Words: 764 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

"The Hate U Give" - Literary Analysis Essay

Works cited.

Anderson, M. L. (2010). Eyes off the prize: The United Nations and the African American struggle for human rights, 1944-1955. Cambridge University Press.
Bleich, E. (2018). Racial rhetoric and networks of fear in France and the United States: News coverage of police violence and terrorism. American Sociological Review, 83(4), 730-760.
Brunsma, D. L., & Rockquemore, K. A. (2001). The new color complex: Appearances and biracial identity. Identity, 1(3), 225-246.
Carter, P. L. (2003). “Black” cultural capital, status positioning, and schooling conflicts for low-income African American youth. Social Problems, 50(1), 136-155.
Davis, A. Y. (2016). Freedom is a constant struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the foundations of a movement. Haymarket Books.
Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2017). Critical race theory: An introduction. New York University Press.
Dyson, M. E. (2017). Tears we cannot stop: A sermon to white America. St. Martin's Press.
Gallagher, C. A. (2008). Color-blind privilege: The social and political functions of erasing the color line in post-race America. Race, Gender & Class, 15(1-2), 191-207.
Picca, L. H., & Feagin, J. R. (2007). Two-faced racism: Whites in the backstage and frontstage. Routledge.
Thomas, A. (2017). The hate u give. HarperCollins.

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The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas has become a rising issue among many school boards. While showing opinion towards the black lives matter movement. Many people are starting to have realization of this problem and have started [...]

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Themes and Analysis

The hate u give, by angie thomas.

The book, ‘The Hate U Give’ isn’t just a book that some people are forced to read in English class, but instead a book that can teach you valuable lessons applicable to our lives. The lessons can be found in the themes.

Article written by Ugo Juliet

Former Lecturer. Author of multiple books. Degree from University Of Nigeria, Nsukka.

The themes of a story are the deeper meanings and truth that the book reveals. Sometimes they are easily found like this book, but other times, you have read it many times before you can find it. ‘ The Hate U Give ’ by Angie Thomas is a story for a young adult novel . It is about the life of 16-year-old Starr Carter, a young girl who witnesses the death of Khalil Harris, her childhood best friend. An unarmed Khalil was shot and killed by a white police officer, showing irresponsibility and police brutality present in many African-American communities.

Most school teachers are teaching the novel ‘ The Hate U Give ’ this school year because the themes and events that take place in the novel connect to the society we live in today. There are so many themes that can be found in the book like police brutality, identity, and double consciousness. Here are some of them.

‘ The Hate U Give ’ Themes

Police brutality.

The leader of the drug gang in Garden Heights, King, constantly warns Starr not to speak up about this incident in order for his business to remain secretive. In the book, you see Garden Heights, the fictional neighborhood, isn’t the best place to be but they don’t usually call the cops. Many people believe that the novel would be a catalyst for deeper questioning and engaging class discussions.

It is also believed that students will inevitably generate concern for relevant issues like police brutality that the book revolves around. Khalil’s death put Starr in a dilemma with the tough decision of either speaking up against police brutality or keeping quiet to ensure that King doesn’t come after her and her family. King takes advantage of the protest and riots to set Mavericks (Starr’s father) ‘s store on fire with both Starr and Seven (Maverick’s son) inside.

In the novel, Starr was confused, mad, and felt very lonely because she couldn’t understand her struggle. She tried rebelling and wanted to defend not only her beliefs but others’ beliefs as well. King was arrested at the end of the book after being snitched on by neighbors, and the Carter family moved into a new house in a safer neighborhood. Also, Starr makes a promise to continue fighting against injustice and to never stay silent again.

Identity and Double-Consciousness

In an 1897 article in the Atlantic, W.E.B. Du Bois, a sociologist noted that he felt a “two-ness” came from seeing himself through the eyes of others. In ‘ The Hate U Give ’, the author increases Starr’s dilemma by having her dramatically move between two worlds – the neighborhood where she lives, African American Garden Heights, and the school environment, white Williamson Prep.

With her friends from Garden Heights, Starr uses slang, liberally uses ghetto languages, and topics like “stank-eye, gangbanging.” With her friends from school, she is careful to always use proper English and watches her tone so no one can dismiss her as an “angry black girl.” She learned early on, when she tried to have a slumber party with both sets of friends that the two worlds do not mesh, and she finds it exhausting to keep up two separate personas.

Starr, trying to be acceptable to both worlds, causes an identity crisis that prevents her from being her real self and truly connecting with others. She wishes she could be like Will, the main character in the 90s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, whom she believes acted true to himself despite attending a fancy school. Starr and her white boyfriend, Chris, share a fondness for the sitcom and can recite entire episodes to each other. Still, Starr does not feel safe enough with Chris to reveal her trauma over the deaths of Natasha and Khalil. When Chris confronts her at prom about being the witness to Khalil’s death, it is a watershed moment for Starr.

The Pervasiveness of Racism

Khalil is a victim of thug life both in life and death. A lack of economic opportunity in their town led to his drug dealing. After his death, racial profiling led to his being blamed for his own murder. As Khalil’s friend and the witness to his shooting, Starr has to navigate the overt racism of One-Fifteen and the people who justify and guard him. And as an African American pupil in a predominately white school, Starr has to cope with each day’s microaggressions from human beings like Hailey, who refuse to renowned their white privilege.

One-Fifteen symbolizes the regular chance of police brutality in opposition to African Americans. Although he’s slightly gifted as a character, he looms over the complete narrative. One-Fifteen pulls the young adults over due to a damaged taillight. However, he’s unnecessarily competitive in the direction of Khalil, assuming Khalil is as much as not real due to the fact he’s African American.

In a TV interview, One-Fifteen’s father characterizes his son as “afraid for his life” for the duration of his come across with the young adults, whilst in fact, Starr and Khalil posed no threat to him. One-Fifteen’s father additionally paints his son as a type of white savior, nobly risking himself “to make a distinction withinside the lives” of the citizens of Garden Heights. Starr calls this mindset out as no exceptional from how slave masters notion they were “saving African Americans from their ‘wild African ways.” Because of a justice gadget stacked in opposition to African Americans, One-Fifteen suffers no effects for killing an unarmed teen.

Hailey casually throws cruel comments toward Starr and Maya, and she refuses to acknowledge that she has done anything wrong, even when directly challenged. Instead, she makes her feel guilty and turns their argument around, and in the process, making herself a victim instead of a perpetrator. Thomas shows how this is a kind of gaslighting that makes Hailey’s victims question themselves so she can retain the moral high ground and maintain the status quo.

The Defeating Cycle of Poverty

The truth of Khalil’s character is at the forefront of Starr’s mind and thus becomes one of the focal points of Thomas’s narrative. Thomas investigates the crushing cycle of poverty through Khalil’s life and death, the way it limits choices for African Americans, and how their crimes provide justification for white people to continue to dismiss and oppress them.

Starr and Khalil have known each other since they were kids her babysitter, Ms. Rosalie, is Khalil’s grandmother. Although they have drifted apart since Starr started attending Williamson Prep, she trusts him enough to get in his car without a second thought when shots ring out at a party in Garden Heights. She is sure that One-Fifteen murdered him, as he did nothing wrong.

However, Starr finds herself conflicted and wondering how much she can defend someone who dealt drugs and may have been a gang member. In fact, she denies knowing him when her friends at Williamson prep dismiss him as a thug. When she hears One-Fifteen’s father lying about Khalil and painting him as a threat to his son’s life, Starr realizes she must speak for Khalil and let people know the true story, that Khalil is as much a victim of institutionalized racism as he is of One-Fifteen’s gun.

Khalil earned some money at Maverick’s store, but his grandmother’s cancer treatments became unmanageable. She wonders if this makes her a thug, too, providing justification for white people to kill her as well. Starr knows she is lucky to have two parents who are loving and gainfully employed and who have successfully escaped the depressing cycle of poverty. She knows that most people in Garden Heights are not so lucky, and it is up to her and those like her to help out in any way possible.

Analysis of Key Moments in ‘ The Hate U Give ’

There are various major events that happened in the novel. Here are some of the most notable ones.

The teens at a party at Greater heights where gunshots were heard.
The shooting of Khalil at the traffic stop by One-Fifteen.
After the shooting of her friend, Khalil, by the police; Starr gained the firmness f mind within herself to testify before a grand jury to seek justice for his death.
Starr made a decision not to keep silent anymore and agreed to testify before the grand jury.
Starr gives a statement to the police about what happened, after One-Fifteen shoots Khalil.
Starr testifies in front of the grand jury, and this finally brings to light the full truth of what happened the night of Khalil death. After this testimony, Starr decides that she will do all she can do to seek justice for Khalil.
The grand jury did not indict One-Fifteen.
Starr and her friends hide at her family store, but King burns the store by tossing a Molotov cocktail into the store and burns it down. The neighbors reported to the police that it was King who started the fire, which led to his arrest.

Style, Tone, and Figurative Language in ‘ The Hate U Give ’

The author used the first-person viewpoint throughout the story. Angie used the sarcastic, witty, and upbeat social commentary of the protagonist to give the novel an optimistic tone in the face of tragedy. Yet, there is an atmosphere of indignation in the book, which is directed at the oppressive systems in society. The characters in ‘ The Hate U Give’ have to fight against the system each and every day.

The major clash in the story is between Starr and herself as she struggles to speak up and fight for her friend, Khalil. Another major conflict is the one between the book’s African-American characters and the racism and brutality they face in their lives.

There is foreshadowing in the book when Starr shows concern over what to do if a police car stops her. This was a foreshadowing of Khalil’s later shooting. The intrinsic bad feeling that Starr and Lisa got about the police investigation into the case of Officer One-Fifteen is another foreshadowing of the jury’s decision not to prosecute the police officer.

Analysis of the Symbols

Khalil’s hairbrush.

Khalil’s hairbrush is similar to Khalil. This is because of the significance attached to a black teenager in such a neighborhood. The hairbrush looks dangerous to a cop who racially profiles, even though it is not. Therefore, the hairbrush represents the racist assumptions that white people make about African Americans.

An activist, Ms. Ofrah, informs Starr and her parents that officer Cruise mistook Khalil’s hairbrush for a gun because “the handle was thick enough, black enough, for him to assume it was a gun.” Maverick points out that Khalil was black too, suggesting that One-Fifteen only “saw” a gun because he expected one to be there. One-Fifteen, like other white police officers who monitor the black neighborhoods, makes the racist assumption that an African American teen who tries to resist them must be a criminal.

One-Fifteen

One-fifteen is the badge number of the cop who killed Khalil. In the novel, it is a symbol of unrestrained police brutality towards African Americans. Starr kept referring to the officer as “One-Fifteen,” instead of his real name because of two main things. First, Starr said she learned to get the badge number of any cop she interacted with because she was told about the police from her juvenile age.

Starr and other children in the African American neighborhood are taught early how to avoid confrontation with the police. This is because they are much more likely to be harassed by police because of racial profiling. So they are taught to always cooperate and never make any sudden movements in order to stay safe. The second thing is that by not referring to One-Fifteen by his given name, Starr is refusing to make him human or sympathize with him. She puts the focus squarely where it should be: on his victim, Khalil Harris.

How many times did Khalil get shot?

The police officer that killed Khalil shot him three times. He felt he was grabbing a gun and shoots Khalil immediately, killing him. The only reason Starr agrees to go to an interview with police about the shooting is because of the encouragement by her detective Uncle.

What does Khalil’s hairbrush represent?

Khalil’s Hairbrush is one of the symbols in the book. The hairbrush represents two things. The first thing is the blinding power of a racist system. The second thing is the senselessness of racism. One-Fifteen alleges that he shot Khalil because he mistook his hairbrush for a gun.

Why did One-fifteen pull Khalil over?

According to the police officer, One-Fifteen, Khalil was pulled over because of a broken taillight. He asks them where they are coming from, to which Khalil responds with “nunya.” One-Fifteen demands that Khalil gets out of the car, pins his arm behind his back, and proceeds to search him.

What does One-Fifteen symbolize in ‘ The Hate U Give ’ ?

One-Fifteen, the badge number of the cop who murders Khalil, is another symbol in ‘ The Hate U Give ’ . It symbolizes unfettered police brutality against African Americans. One-Fifteen becomes a symbol for the larger issue of institutional racism because white parents never have to give their white children this safety talk.

What is a symbol in ‘ The Hate U Give ?’

There are two main symbols in the book. They are Khalil hairbrush and One-Fifteen, the police officer. One of the protest chants was that ‘A hairbrush is not a gun!’, in protest of the shooting of Khalil under the guise of him having a gun and the anger felt by the African-American community.

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About Ugo Juliet

Juliet Ugo is an experienced content writer and a literature expert with a passion for the written word with over a decade of experience. She is particularly interested in analyzing books, and her insightful interpretations of various genres have made her a well-known authority in the field.

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Chantal Monique Duson

CHANTAL MONIQUE DUSON Biblical Unity Advocate

Aug 23, 2022
12 min read

Review: The Hate U Give

Racial Indoctrination for High School Students?

DISCLAIMER: THIS REVIEW IS NOT SANITIZED. This review reflects the language and tone of the book itself. I did not water down the content to make it easier to read. If this language is being used with our kids, parents and leaders should understand this, and should hear what they are hearing. If you find it offensive, imagine the impact such language will have (or may have already had) on your children.

The Hate U Give , by Angie Thomas, is a young-adult novel that can be found in many high-school classrooms today. The story follows the experience of Starr Carter, a sixteen-year-old girl who lives in the fictional inner-city neighborhood of Garden Heights. On the surface, the novel pulls back the curtain on some of the realities of inner-city life. Having spent most of my childhood in the inner city, I can attest the story does hit on some very valid issues.

But the novel doesn’t just tell a story. Through the narrative of Starr, Thomas presents a world in which black people and other minorities are oppressed at the hands of both white people and the police. This oppressor/oppressed dichotomy is a major theme in the critical social theories, including Critical Race Theory (CRT), and it is a major theme in The Hate U Give. In drawing the reader into Starr’s world, Thomas advances a CRT–fueled mindset, one that looks to potentially violent activism as the solution for the “hate,” or the oppression, forced on minorities by society.

The Setting and Story: Two Worlds

Garden Heights is a lower-socioeconomic area filled with gangs, drugs, drive-by shootings, alcohol, and many people just trying to survive—in other words, your typical ’hood. Even though Starr lives there, she doesn’t fit the “typical ’hood kid” mold. She’s from a decent, hard-working family; her father is an ex–gang member who runs a community grocery store, and her mother is a nurse who has conquered her own past challenges. Starr and her brothers also go to a private school across town, where their parents sent them after Starr’s best friend was killed in a drive-by shooting years before.

Starr finds herself caught between two worlds: that of her inner-city home, and that of Williamson Prep, her wealthy, predominantly white private school. Early in the story, she observes that “There are just some places where it’s not enough to be me. Either version of me.” (pg. 3) Thus, from the very beginning of The Hate U Give, Starr is looking for the place where she belongs. She doesn’t feel like she belongs with the ’hood crowd, though a part of her wants to; she watches them closely and learns to imitate them. She also doesn’t feel like she can be herself at Williamson Prep, where she plays up her learned character as a ‘hood kid:

“In Garden Heights, I learn how to be dope by watching. At Williamson, I put my learned dopeness on display. I’m not even that dope, but these white kids think I am and that goes a long way in high school politics.” (pg. 294?)

The novel’s opening scene is a ’hood party, which Starr has gone to alone, without her parents’ permission. She’s feeling nervous and out of place: “I’m not even sure I belong at this party.” She’s aware that she doesn’t look like any of the other girls there, who “wear their hair colored, curled, laid, and slayed. Got me feeling basic as hell with my ponytail.” (pg. 3) She tries to take a drink but spits it back out: “I knew there would be more than Hawaiian Punch in it, but this is way stronger than I’m used to. They shouldn’t even call it punch. Just straight-up liquor.” (pgs. 3-4)

She’s self-conscious and reflects on how she fits (or doesn’t fit) in to either of her worlds, and how she has to adopt a kind of double-consciousness to function in either:

“People glance over at me with that ‘who is this chick, standing against the wall by herself like an idiot?’ look. I slip my hands into my pockets. As long as I play it cool and keep to myself, I should be fine. The ironic thing is though, at Williamson I don’t have to ‘play it cool’—I’m cool by default because I’m one of the only black kids there. I have to earn coolness in Garden Heights, and that’s more difficult than buying retro Jordans on release day. Funny how it works with white kids though. It’s dope to be black until it’s hard to be black. (pg. 11)

Double-consciousness, as explained by W.E.B. DuBois, “a peculiar sensation, … [a] sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.” It’s related to “code-switching,” or changing one’s behavior in order to blend in with the surrounding culture. Both of these experiences are common to many African Americans, and Starr is no different—only she must learn to adjust to both of her worlds in different ways. And she does: “Being two different people is so exhausting. I’ve taught myself to speak with two different voices and only say certain things around certain people. I’ve mastered it.” (p. 300)

Back at the party, Starr is talking with a childhood friend, Khalil, when shots break out. The novel makes this seem typical for a ’hood party: “Always some shit,” Khalil says. “Can’t have a party without somebody getting shot.” (pg. 16) Starr escapes with Khalil, who offers to drive her home. In the conversation between them that follows, she criticizes Khalil’s musical taste, and then he educates her about rapper Tupac’s term “T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E.” In doing so, we start to understand the title of the book:

“Pac said, ‘Thug Life stood for The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody.’ The Hate U—the letter U—Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody. T-H-U-G L-I-F-E. Meaning what society give us as youth, it bites them in the ass when we wild out. Get it?” (pg. 17)

Moments later, sirens. They get pulled over by a white police officer. Kahlil acts a bit insolent when responding to the officer. (Note: insolence or impudence is not justify being killed.) When asked where he’s coming from he responds, “nunya,” and arrogantly asks why he was being pulled over. He didn’t get out of the car when initially asked by the officer, but he eventually cooperates, as ordered. When he reaches back into the car for a hairbrush, the officer thought he was grabbing a gun and shot him three times. Khalil died by the side of his car. This traumatizing event spurs the rest of the story, which follows Starr’s journey through her personal moments of fear, double-consciousness, regret, and a search for her identity—all while working to understand what it means to be black and to stand for social justice in a world positioned against black people.

Will Starr be a voice for justice against personal and institutional racism and police brutality in a white-dominant society? Or will she remain silent and safe, perpetuating the hate given to her by the society she was born into? These are some of the choices that Starr must make.

Oppression in The Hate U Give

Starr’s struggle to fit in is realistic and believable, and the world of Garden Heights has authentic and compelling details. But I believe the author’s objective reaches far beyond giving readers a view into the life and struggles of blacks in the inner city. Looking at the book’s major themes, I’m convinced that the author’s intentions are to perpetuate an oppressor/oppressed worldview and to encourage young people to engage in knee-jerk advocacy against the “oppressors.” As the story progresses, we are expected to join the characters in decrying racial injustice, even before evidence has been released. Doing anything less is seen as undeniably racist.

The book’s themes, and the basic foundational beliefs of Starr’s ’hood community, include the following:

Systemic black oppression is an ever-present reality in a white-dominant society, and the true cause of poverty, gangs, and drug abuse is the oppression, or “hate,” given to black people by society.

There is one black identity.

Blacks cannot trust the police.

When hate is fully manifest, activism is the way forward.

Other themes include double-consciousness and code-switching, whites’ emotional fragility, the normalization of sex and LGBTQ ideologies among teens. However, I will only look at the four listed above, and how the author uses them in Starr’s story to encourage readers to respond to a world in which blacks are oppressed by society.

Systemic Black Oppression in a White-Dominant Society

America is familiar with the narrative: a white police officer shoots and kills an unarmed black man. Starr is portrayed as having the scars of yet another “modern-day lynching” at the hands of white people and white systems. As Khalil’s shooting makes national news, there’s the burden to “say their name” and the calls from social-justice advocates to protest and stand in solidarity.

And, as Thomas shows us, police brutality isn’t the only hate given to blacks by a white-dominant society. There is also poverty. Failing schools. Drugs. These injustices, she notes, are the “hate” inflicted upon inner-city communities from infancy. This hate is what prevents many blacks from succeeding. The story puts forth the idea that a society dominated by white oppressors is directly responsible, intentionally or unintentionally, for the conditions and failures of its oppressed black citizens. We hear from the story’s black characters, who refer to themselves as the “oppressed,” who remark that “even if you do have a high school diploma, so many of the schools in our neighborhoods don’t prepare us well enough.” As Starr’s father states, “That’s the hate they’re giving us, baby, a system designed against us. That’s Thug Life.” (pg. 170)

This “oppressed vs. oppressor” narrative is a key feature of the critical social theories. In CRT, for instance, whites are seen as oppressing blacks through social systems (such as education and banking) and power differentials (such as policing and the judicial system). The “hate” given to people of color isn’t necessarily personal or one-on-one; it also refers to systems that are built to keep people from achieving based on race. And this framework is a major theme in The Hate U Give .

Black Identity: What It Means To Be Black

The idea of black identity is woven throughout the book. While individuals may have different experiences, black is presented as more than just skin color. In the ’hood, being black is your essence. It’s a vibe. It’s not just who you are; it’s how you are. It determines how you see the world and how the world sees you. The black identity is a shared communal experience.

In The Hate U Give , black identity is shaped by the fact that blacks are the oppressed ones, the ones at the bottom—those who perpetually get the “short end of the stick.” But this black identity also encompasses power; there is the idea that blacks are feared most by society, not because of their violence but because of their potential:

“‘Black people, minorities, poor people. Everybody at the bottom in society.’ ‘The oppressed,’ says Daddy.’ ‘Yeah. We’re the ones who get the short end of the stick, but we’re the ones they fear the most. That’s why government targeted the Black Panthers, right? Because they were scared of the Panthers?’” (pg. 168)

(Note: This same idea was stated by Louis Farrakhan in his famous 1990 interview with Phil Donohue . Don’t skip over this brief clip! You can watch the full interview here . I recommend everyone watch it.)

The black identity, then, is presented as strong, communal, and family-oriented, but also as a power held back by the external conditions that have been handed to it. The novel goes further and presents black identity as the perpetual victim of whiteness and oppression, and as something that cannot be clearly understood by those outside of the black community:

“This is bigger than me and Khalil though. This is about Us, with a capital U; everybody who looks like us, feels like us, and is experiencing this pain with us despite not knowing me or Khalil.”

In Garden Heights, black identity is “Us,” and anything else is “them.” Black identity is both victimized by and stands in opposition to “them”—specifically, to white people and the police.

Blacks and the Police

In Starr’s community, the police are not to be trusted, as they are part of the system—the hate—that kills blacks, the poor, the oppressed. There is violent rage in Garden Heights surrounding Khalil’s murder. People are fed up with police violence. Lyrics from rap group NWA (“Fuck the police!”) are repeated. Police are seen as crooked and referred to as pigs.

Early in the novel, right before Khalil is shot, Starr recounts the talk her father gave her in dealing with the police. This passage seems to reinforce the notion that every black person should interact with the police from a position of suspicion. While the story recognizes that not every cop is bad, it affirms the idea that black people can’t trust the police, and that they must be careful when interacting with them. According to this perspective, police in black, poor, and oppressed communities are not there to serve and protect but to enforce and uphold power dynamics that offer hate through the killing of the community’s residents. This narrative is another tenet found within the CRT framework and in Starr’s neighborhood. Even her father partially adopts it: “I ain’t say every cop is a bad cop,” he says, “but I ain’t gonna stand here like no fool, thinking that some of them don’t do dirty shit.”

Another perspective from CRT is to view non-blacks exclusively through the lens of where they stand in relation to blacks or blackness. This even happens with Starr’s friend, Maya, who is Chinese. Because Maya has experienced racism, she’s seen as closer in social position to Starr than Starr’s own uncle, who is a police officer. Because of their power and their social position, police cannot be trusted.

Knee-Jerk Activism

In Garden Heights, as in many inner cities, there is an expectation of activism. Often social activist leaders will declare it unconscionable to decry the evils of riots without first castigating the oppressive society that led to the riots. Dr. Martin Luther King put it this way:

“But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally and irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention.”

Today, more than fifty years after that speech, activist pedagogy is being embedded in school curricula, and children are being taught to be activists on behalf of BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color) communities, LGBTQ+ communities, and disabled communities—in other words, the oppressed. Children are trained to be activists and allies by the time they graduate from high school.

(For example, check out this link to the National Sex Education Standards for comprehensive sex education. Draw your attention to the far right-hand column, and the expected outcome that children will understand and participate in activism.)

Today activism is being taught as the method of resolving injustice, and things are no different in Garden Heights. “Fuck this. Starr, whatever you wanna do, I’m down,” says Starr’s brother, Seven. “You wanna burn some shit up, we’ll burn some shit up. Give the word.” (p. 389) When a group of people see themselves as the “unheard,” the language of riots becomes common speak. And this idea is endorsed through the words and actions of Starr’s community.

It is important to note the difference between this kind of activism and a stand for biblical justice. In The Hate U Give , activism says, "Burn some shit up." It works toward social justice on behalf of those who are deemed marginalized by social-justice activists, groups like felons, minorities, or LGBTQ+ individuals.

Biblical justice calls us to use our voice on behalf of the voiceless and those biblically defined as being at risk of marginalization: the poor, the disabled, the widow and orphan. Biblical justice protects the innocent from unrighteous behavior.

Activism isn't always a bad thing. But, instead of “burning shit up,” destroying neighborhoods, and stealing, Christians can use their voice, their vote, and their dollars to be a stand for biblical righteousness.

Addressing the Hate

The Hate U Give highlights some of the real issues young people must navigate when growing up in an impoverished inner city context, issues such as drugs, gang violence, and the struggle for identity. The storyline also parallels events and related narratives we’ve seen in our own culture in recent years.

But the author’s presupposition that whites or the police automatically have a societal power that systematically oppresses blacks and other minorities is an assertion left to be proven. And it is harmful to young-adult readers of both races. For instance, when this ideology is accepted full-scale and promoted to uninformed white youth, it has the potential to build a burden of unnecessary guilt for the misdeeds of any racist who shares their skin color. It teaches white people to believe that they are responsible for all racial injustice. They aren’t.

Likewise, adopting a posture that the life circumstances someone is born into will automatically determine their outcome is also an error that must be corrected. The idea that blacks are somehow ill-equipped to change their life position—to rid their communities of violence, drugs, poverty, and single-parent homes—because of the hate from outside societal influences is untrue. However, as long as blacks continue to blame our issues on white “hate,” the implication is that it will always take the influence of white people to eradicate the problems found in our communities.

Finally, it’s also important to understand that sometimes the hate experienced doesn’t come from things outside of us, but comes from our worst enemies—ourselves. Consider the story of Cain and Abel. “Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” (Gen. 4:6-7) The very thing that sought to “have” Cain was the thing inside of him, sin. We all must guard our hearts against sin that seeks to overtake us. As Christians, we can fight against unjust systems and structures, but if our hearts are overruled by bitterness, jealousy, envy, or hate, we will be overtaken by the sin we were meant to rule over. Likewise, we must teach our children to do the same.

Parents of children who are being exposed to The Hate U Give should be aware of the worldview that is offered in the novel. They should know that it may encourage your children, black or white, to become activists or allies in the oppressor/oppressed framework that is depicted in both the novel and our culture. In a future article, I will discuss how Christian parents can respond if and when they learn that a book like The Hate U Give is being taught at their child’s school, appears on the school’s reading list, or is added to the school’s library.

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The hate u give.

Common Sense Says
Parents Say 53 Reviews
Kids Say 184 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Powerful story of police shooting of unarmed Black teen.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 13+?

Conversational swearing by both adults and teens throughout the novel, including

We see several instances of violence and hear about others. A unarmed teen boy i

There's talk of an affair between two adults. Teens engage in heavy petting, tal

Name brands including Jordans, luxury automobiles, junk food brands, and restaur

Teens drink alcohol and smoke marijuana at a party. Two adult characters are alc

Any Positive Content?

Strong messages throughout The Hate U Give about community activism and together

Unlike many books aimed at young adults, this novel is full of positive kid and

Explains police brutality from the victims' perspective and shows a broad view o

Conversational swearing by both adults and teens throughout the novel, including "s--t," "f--k," "ass," "bitch," "damn" (and variants), and "nigga."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Violence & Scariness

We see several instances of violence and hear about others. A unarmed teen boy is shot and killed; we see the blood, and we see him die. There are other reports of shootings and deaths as a result. Another boy is badly beaten. A woman is described as being beaten. An older gentleman is attacked by a group of young men; we don't see the attack but we see the injuries. Many threats are made on the lives of various people. A young girl dies in a drive-by shooting and her blood is described as mingling with the fire hydrant water. There are school fights between girls and boys. Buildings are set on fire during riots.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

There's talk of an affair between two adults. Teens engage in heavy petting, talk about having sex and condoms. A teen girl is described as being on birth control, and there's discussion of teen pregnancy and the assumption that a married couple is having sex when they go to their bedroom and turn the television up loud. A woman is revealed to be a sex worker.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Name brands including Jordans, luxury automobiles, junk food brands, and restaurants such as Taco Bell are mentioned for scene setting or to show the disparity between lifestyles.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Teens drink alcohol and smoke marijuana at a party. Two adult characters are alcoholics. Adults are described as being addicted to drugs, addiction to crack cocaine is discussed, and both teens and adults are described as selling drugs. We don't actually see drugs being sold, but drug dealing is discussed throughout the novel.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

Strong messages throughout The Hate U Give about community activism and togetherness, family strength, courage, bravery, and redemption.

Positive Role Models

Unlike many books aimed at young adults, this novel is full of positive kid and adult role models. The adults who reach out to mentor and advise the students not only provide guidance but also show vulnerability, which allows the teens in the story to feel comfortable with their own vulnerability. The teens navigate tough situations but show a willingness to learn from mistakes and make amends.

Educational Value

Explains police brutality from the victims' perspective and shows a broad view of protest strategies, justice, inequality, and the systemic failures that often accompany police shootings.

Parents need to know that Angie Thomas' New York Times best-selling book The Hate U Give won a 2018 Coretta Scott King Author Honor, a Michael L. Printz Honor, and the Odyssey Award for best audiobook for kids and teens. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, it involves the police shooting of an unarmed black teen. The book covers topics of race, interracial dating, political activism, grief, friendship, wealth disparity, police brutality, addiction, and the media's depiction of African Americans. Parents should be prepared to discuss recent and past instances of police shootings, how they were covered in the media, dealing with grief, and possible reactions to the trauma revealed in the book. There is some conversational swearing by both adults and teens throughout the novel, including "s--t," "f--k," "ass," "bitch," "damn" (and variants), and "nigga." Violence includes an unarmed teen boy shot and killed -- we see the blood and see him die. There are other reports of shootings and deaths as a result. A boy is badly beaten. A woman is described as being beaten. An older gentleman is attacked by a group of young men; we don't see the attack but we see the injuries. A young girl dies in a drive-by shooting and her blood is described as mingling with the fire hydrant water. There are school fights between girls and boys. Buildings are set on fire during riots. Sexual situations include teens engaging in heavy petting, talk about having sex and condoms. There's discussion of teen pregnancy and the assumption that a married couple is having sex when they go to their bedroom and turn the television up loud. A woman is revealed to be a sex worker. Teens drink alcohol and smoke marijuana at a party. Two adult characters are alcoholics. Adults are described as being addicted to drugs, addiction to crack cocaine is discussed, and both teens and adults are described as selling drugs.

Where to Read

Parent and kid reviews.

Parents say (53)
Kids say (184)

Based on 53 parent reviews

R Rated Book

What's the story.

In THE HATE U GIVE, Starr Carter is a teen between two worlds: her school, which is rich, fancy, and white; and her neighborhood, which is poor and black. She navigates this differing terrain every day of her life until her worlds collide when she witnesses the fatal police shooting of her best friend, Khalil, an unarmed black teen. Khalil's death goes viral, and Starr is caught in the middle between the protesters in the street and her friends at school. With the eyes of the world on her, Starr has to decide: Will she say what happened that night? Will it matter?

Is It Any Good?

Wrenching, soul stirring, funny, endearing, painful, and frustratingly familiar, this novel offers a powerful look at a few weeks in a fairly typical teen girl's life -- with one horrific exception. Sure she worries about school, issues with friends, and her secret boyfriend, but she's also the sole witness to the fatal shooting of her best friend by a police officer. In The Hate U Give , author Angie Thomas manages to bring humanity -- deep, emotionally binding, full-bodied humanity -- to the victims of police brutality and the families and friends they leave behind. The scenarios that revolve around the shooting are achingly routine -- unarmed African American, the media's push to blame the victim, a lax investigation, and a lack of charges or convictions. However, set against the backdrop of typical teen life, of community and family life, the consequences of the officer's actions and the actions others take after the tragedy take on a life and power beyond what any think piece or talking points on the subject could achieve.

The characters in the book are rich, complex, and fully developed. They feel like family, friends, and neighbors, and they give those unfamiliar with life in urban centers an understanding that the setting may be specific but the human condition is the universal. The tragedy and triumph of Thomas' stellar work is that it's very real and heartbreakingly familiar. Teens will enjoy the book for its unfiltered look at life, death, grief, and social and political commentary, while parents and teachers will enjoy the book's well-written and thorough approach to a complex social issue.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about how The Hate U Give discusses the media's reaction to police shootings of unarmed African Americans vs. how it reports violence against or perpetrated by white Americans. What's the difference in the language used? Whom and what does the media focus on when it reports the story? Is it fair?

How do you talk about race and other social issues with friends and family? How do you deal with friends who tell racist, homophobic, and otherwise offensive jokes? What about family members who say inappropriate things? Is it better to ignore or confront the person? What are the repercussions of each approach? What strategies could you use to make the discussion less awkward?

Discuss "the talk" -- the conversation that parents of African American and other minority kids have with their children, particularly their sons, about what to do when confronted by the police. Did your parents give you the talk? How does the conversation differ between what minority children are told and white children are told? (Do white children even have this conversation?) Do you think it's fair that there's a difference in the conversation?

Book Details

Author : Angie Thomas
Genre : Contemporary Fiction
Topics : Activism , Brothers and Sisters , Friendship , Great Girl Role Models
Book type : Fiction
Publisher : HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date : February 28, 2017
Publisher's recommended age(s) : 14 - 18
Number of pages : 464
Available on : Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
Awards : ALA Best and Notable Books , Coretta Scott King Medal and Honors
Last updated : January 15, 2019

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The Hate U Give – Book Review

Title: the hate u give author: angie thomas pages: 444 publication day: february 28th, 2017 publisher: balzer + bray format: hardcover.

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

Booktimistic Star Rating:

“Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.”

Riveting, emotionally fraught and heartbreakingly honest, The Hate U Give is one of the most powerful YA contemporaries I’ve read till date. You know, all the hype and attention this book has been getting, all those raving reviews, they are all true and well deserved.

Anyone who has read the premise, would know that this book is inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. The injustice, police brutality and racial bias for the innocent Black community is a very, very important subject that needs to be addressed and Angie Thomas has done so with a fervor that would resonate with the young minds for years to come.

The Hate U Give, written in the first person narrative, is voiced by the innocent, sixteen-year-old Starr. One night, after returning from a party with Khalil, her childhood best friend, a cop pulls them over and Starr witnesses the most distressing event of her life – the murder of non-threatening, unarmed Khalil for doing absolutely nothing wrong. The cop who stopped them, put multiple bullets into Khalil while Starr sat watching helplessly as her best friend lay bleeding and dead on the streets in the middle of the night.

“I’ve seen it happen over and over again: a black person gets killed just for being black, and all hell breaks loose. I’ve Tweeted RIP hashtags, reblogged pictures on Tumblr, and signed every petition out there. I always said that if I saw it happen to somebody, I would have the loudest voice, making sure the world knew what went down. Now I am that person, and I’m too afraid to speak.”

The gist of the book is how Starr deals with the consequences of this devastating tragedy. How she goes through every stage of grief, never once being able to accept that Khalil is actually gone. Her rage towards her friend’s murderer, her determination to do everything possible to get him justice, and also her unspoken fear that justice won’t be served.

Its an intense read, heavy with emotions, but along with the socio political issue that it takes into account, it is also funny and hopeful. The character dynamics is pure brilliance. Starr’s family is perhaps one of the most realistic, supportive, loving and close knit-family I’ve read about. Its commendable how smartly Angie Thomas has rendered the complex relationships amongst various people in the two worlds that Starr is caught in between – one of the rough, poor, Black neighborhood that she lives in and other of the rich White elite prep school that she attends. All characters in this book feel real and involved rather than clichéd and made up and this story, though a work of fiction is utterly close to reality.

I’d say read it, not only for its significant social message but also because its a fantastic and memorable story that deserved to be told. John Green might be right in his saying that this will be remembered as a classic of our time.

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What a movie I watched. I just can’t take it out of my mind. Cannot believe it’s unreal. Am honestly touched by the act of all the characters. Great job.

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Submitting a book for review, write the editor, you are here:, the hate u give.

To everyone at her school with a predominantly white population, Starr is the cool African American girl who is part of a semi-athletic group of friends, and has a sweet, yet oblivious boyfriend. That’s about all they know about her. They don’t know that she lives across town in Garden Heights, an area that’s known as the ghetto. Basically, she’s a part of two polar opposite communities, and Starr has to put on a different face for each one.

At school, she worries about her attitude and her actions, which in the wrong light could place her in the stereotype of the “angry black woman." At home, she’s ridiculed for losing her roots. Her two lives have always been separate, until she takes a ride home with her friend Khalil in Garden Heights, when they’re pulled over by a cop. With both of them unarmed, Khalil is taken out of the car, without a clear reason why. While they wait for the cop to return to the car, Khalil moves toward Starr in the car to check on her, and is shot dead. Being the only witness to Khalil’s brutal murder, Starr must decide if she’s willing to have her two worlds collide in a fight for justice.

"I am telling you right now, go read THE HATE U GIVE, and let it sit with you. Think about it everyday. Tell your friends about it. Read it once, twice, or three times. This is a story you need to know, and a situation you need to be aware of."

Before I start this review, it’s important for you to know the point of view I’m writing from. I am a girl who is completely of European descent, and am white. Because of that, I have a huge amount of white privilege in our society. I have never experienced the consequences of a racial remark or action toward me, and I’ve never had to worry about police brutality directed at me, a reality for so many minorities. In itself, reading THE HATE U GIVE was a privilege. I was able to just read about a situation like Starr’s, and didn’t have to experience it.

I would like to say that I was shocked when I read the outrageous injustices in Starr and Khalil’s story, but I wasn’t. In the years that I’ve finally started to become aware of social issues, I have read stories like Trayvon Martin, who was my age when he was murdered by a neighborhood watch guard for carrying a pack of candy at night, or Eric Garner, who was strangled to death during an arrest because he was selling cigarettes on the street. Those are just two of the hundreds of African Americans killed by authoritative figures in recent years, let alone in all of history.

Starr was one of the most incredible woman that I have ever read in literature, and I would’ve said the same thing if she decided not to pursue the action she took. She constantly showed a track record of standing up for social injustices, and wasn’t afraid to call out someone who was in the wrong. At the same time, she was very aware of the racial construct in the two societies she lived in. From what I observed, she also had a pretty great bond with her family. Both of her siblings were protective of her in the same way she was protective to them.

I also really enjoyed how Angie Thomas worked at breaking down the cycle of poverty, and how it connects to violence, drugs and gangs. Right now, I think that a lot of outlets feed on demonizing anyone who is a victim of police brutality, exploiting any negative background knowledge about them. THE HATE U GIVE brings back their humanity by looking at several situations of people who are just trying to get through life and protect their family, even if their decisions might be dangerous.

Lastly, it’s important to say that in no way is this book anti-cop, and neither is the Black Lives Movement, which plays a huge role in THE HATE U GIVE. Rather, this book highlights the fact that there are fantastic cops and cops who abuse their power. In fact, Starr’s uncle, who is very influential in her life, is a cop, and constantly is a reminder to Starr that while there is evil, there is also good. On a side note, this book explores the complex actions and thoughts that feed into riots, and whether riots are effective or not.

I am telling you right now, go read THE HATE U GIVE, and let it sit with you. Think about it everyday. Tell your friends about it. Read it once, twice, or three times. This is a story you need to know, and a situation you need to be aware of. Most importantly, I urge you to become active in the fight for justice, because when there is injustice anywhere, there is injustice everywhere.

Reviewed by Reanna H., Teen Board Member on March 31, 2017

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Publication Date: September 4, 2018
Genres: Fiction
Hardcover: 512 pages
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
ISBN-10: 0062872346
ISBN-13: 9780062872340

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“The Hate U Give,” Reviewed: An Empathetic, Nuanced Portrait of a Teen’s Political Awakening

There’s no special merit to films that address subjects of urgent political concern, nor to ones that advocate progressive views. Sometimes such movies offer little more than fan service, of a sort that hardly differs from canonical interpretations of superhero stories designed to please hardcore followers. In skewing their drama and characters in order to stoke viewers’ responses in favor of one particular outcome, some political movies dull the emotional experience of watching. Far from advancing and reinforcing the desired view, such numbing movies suggest that the view exacts a price in vitality; viewers will decide for themselves whether the trade-off is worth it. What’s certain is that a narrow view of advocacy and a narrowed emotional range go hand in hand, and that filmmakers, in the grip of their own persuasion, often miss that connection.

“The Hate U Give,” which is in wide release this Friday, does not fall into this trap. It’s an explicitly political movie that advocates a manifestly progressive view of its subjects, but it does so with a varied emotional energy, a set of complex characters in uncertain situations, and a perspective that emphasizes the drama’s open-ended, trouble-filled engagement with society at large. It does so with a sense of balance, of heads-up alertness that suggests a dramatic type of peripheral vision—the director, George Tillman, Jr., seems to know, and to convey that when the camera is on one character or several others are present and potent, whether just out of frame or somewhere out of view but clearly exerting an unseen influence.

It’s the story of a black family living in the predominantly black Georgia neighborhood of Garden Heights and confronting, directly and personally, legally enforced and socially reinforced norms of racism—which is to say, they’re a perfectly ordinary black American family, working and living under circumstances that, as is clear from the start, would be inconceivable for a white family to face. The central character, Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg), a sixteen-year-old high-school student, is also the movie’s central consciousness—her presence, her conflicts, and her voice (in the form of a retrospective voice-over) dominate the film from beginning to end. The movie, based on a novel by Angie Thomas , with a screenplay by Audrey Wells (who died earlier this month), opens with Starr’s recollection of “the talk” that her father, Maverick (Russell Hornsby), gave her and her two siblings—about how to behave if stopped by a police officer, in order not to give the officer any excuse to shoot them.

Starr was nine at the time. Her half brother was ten, and his very name, Seven, is relevant to the story’s premise: he was named by Maverick in reference to point No. 7 of the Black Panthers’ Ten-Point Program, which demanded “an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people,” and it’s precisely the police murder of a black person on which the drama of “The Hate U Give” pivots. Maverick, who owns a convenience store, and Starr’s mother, Lisa (Regina Hall), a nurse at a local hospital, arrange for Starr to attend a well-funded, predominantly white high school in a nearby community. (Starr describes the “two versions” of herself—Version One, which is her in her own neighborhood, and Version Two, which she puts forward in her school in order not to be considered “ghetto.”)

Starr Version One goes to a party with black friends in her neighborhood; when shots ring out, one of them, a young man named Khalil (Algee Smith), a lifelong friend, brings her to safety and drives her home. But during a routine traffic stop—ostensibly for a failure to signal a lane change but actually a case of a white cop catching Khalil “driving while black”—he reaches for his hairbrush, which the officer claims to believe is a gun, and shoots Khalil dead. Starr, the only witness, had started recording the arrest on her phone; ordered to put it away, she nonetheless is able to identify the officer by his badge number.

When a grand jury is convened to consider charges against the officer, Starr is asked by an attorney for Khalil’s family named April Ofrah (Issa Rae) to testify. But, as Starr knows, Khalil had been a newbie small-time drug dealer (because his family faced a catastrophic failure of the safety net) and was working for a local kingpin named King (Anthony Mackie), who pressures—and threatens—her not to testify. What’s more, Starr also faces pressure from the local police and their allies not to testify. To complicate matters, Maverick is King’s former “right-hand man.” He served three years in jail for a crime committed by King—the deal being that, after his release, he’d be released from the gang. Maverick wants Starr to testify; Lisa, however, who fears King’s gang (the King Lords), as well as the police, wants to protect Starr above all, and to keep her from testifying.

The drama is sharply delineated, the conflict clearly drawn—but Wells’s script sets them in motion by means of a wide array of complicating subplots and contextualizing incidents, which Tillman balances nimbly, energetically, and perceptively. There’s Starr’s relationship with Chris (K. J. Apa), her boyfriend, a white classmate; her friendships with other classmates, white and Asian; her relationships with her younger brother, Sekani (TJ Wright), with Seven (Lamar Johnson), and with Seven’s other half sister, Kenya (Dominque Fishback); her relationship with her uncle, Carlos (Common), who’s a police officer; and there’s the media factor, which plays a role in all of these relationships. The killing of Khalil is major local news, widely reported on television—though, because she is a minor, Starr’s identity is concealed, including from her friends.

What’s more, these media accounts are themselves a defining aspect of the movie’s societal landscape: the depiction of Khalil, the obsession with his criminal behavior, the depiction of his family, the depiction of protests that erupt after his killing, the representation of the Garden Heights community, the questions posed in interviews by a Barbie-like TV reporter are all implicated in the story. Similarly, attempts by the police to prevent residents from recording officers’ actions are also elements of the drama; so is the oppressive prevalence of gun violence on the part of the drug-dealing gang and the endemic, menacing presence of guns in the homes of law-abiding citizens as well; so is local activism, the urgency of protest, and police repression of it.

There’s also a plethora of social context in the film, regarding both Starr’s personal and familial backstory and the political framework within which Maverick is raising the family. (He instills his children with political ideals by way of a quasi-military but nonthreatening discipline.) Lisa—who nonetheless shares Maverick’s larger ideals—inculcates in the children a practical and fundamentally apolitical route to success. Despite Starr’s painful efforts to meet the unfair expectations of her white classmates, she meets with a wide range of uncomprehending judgments ranging from oblivious to insidious. The vectors of frustration, rage, and despair that rack the black residents of Garden Heights are echoed, wrongly and prejudicially, in the media in ways that only aggravate the hostility that the residents face.

The very title of the film, borrowed from the late Tupac Shakur’s explanation of his album titled “Thug Life”—The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody—highlights the cycle of damage caused by racism. The phrase, like the film, unambiguously asserts that racist practices and attitudes, whether official or merely habitual, are the underlying engine of the movie’s very action. The movie isn’t a bold or bracing work of stylistic originality; rather, it’s one in which a familiar manner is expanded and elevated by way of insight and sensibility. “The Hate U Give” is the rare movie that puts the background into the foreground—that integrates its characters’ personal struggles and dreams with a wide and clearly observed political and historical environment. Its unstinting vigor and empathetic but unsentimental nuance mark it as a distinctive and exceptional political film.

“Can You Ever Forgive Me?” Reviewed: Melissa McCarthy Finally Gets the Dramatic Role She Deserves

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Fact-checking warnings from Democrats about Project 2025 and Donald Trump

This fact check originally appeared on PolitiFact .

Project 2025 has a starring role in this week’s Democratic National Convention.

And it was front and center on Night 1.

WATCH: Hauling large copy of Project 2025, Michigan state Sen. McMorrow speaks at 2024 DNC

“This is Project 2025,” Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, said as she laid a hardbound copy of the 900-page document on the lectern. “Over the next four nights, you are going to hear a lot about what is in this 900-page document. Why? Because this is the Republican blueprint for a second Trump term.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, has warned Americans about “Trump’s Project 2025” agenda — even though former President Donald Trump doesn’t claim the conservative presidential transition document.

“Donald Trump wants to take our country backward,” Harris said July 23 in Milwaukee. “He and his extreme Project 2025 agenda will weaken the middle class. Like, we know we got to take this seriously, and can you believe they put that thing in writing?”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, has joined in on the talking point.

“Don’t believe (Trump) when he’s playing dumb about this Project 2025. He knows exactly what it’ll do,” Walz said Aug. 9 in Glendale, Arizona.

Trump’s campaign has worked to build distance from the project, which the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, led with contributions from dozens of conservative groups.

Much of the plan calls for extensive executive-branch overhauls and draws on both long-standing conservative principles, such as tax cuts, and more recent culture war issues. It lays out recommendations for disbanding the Commerce and Education departments, eliminating certain climate protections and consolidating more power to the president.

Project 2025 offers a sweeping vision for a Republican-led executive branch, and some of its policies mirror Trump’s 2024 agenda, But Harris and her presidential campaign have at times gone too far in describing what the project calls for and how closely the plans overlap with Trump’s campaign.

PolitiFact researched Harris’ warnings about how the plan would affect reproductive rights, federal entitlement programs and education, just as we did for President Joe Biden’s Project 2025 rhetoric. Here’s what the project does and doesn’t call for, and how it squares with Trump’s positions.

Are Trump and Project 2025 connected?

To distance himself from Project 2025 amid the Democratic attacks, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he “knows nothing” about it and has “no idea” who is in charge of it. (CNN identified at least 140 former advisers from the Trump administration who have been involved.)

The Heritage Foundation sought contributions from more than 100 conservative organizations for its policy vision for the next Republican presidency, which was published in 2023.

Project 2025 is now winding down some of its policy operations, and director Paul Dans, a former Trump administration official, is stepping down, The Washington Post reported July 30. Trump campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita denounced the document.

WATCH: A look at the Project 2025 plan to reshape government and Trump’s links to its authors

However, Project 2025 contributors include a number of high-ranking officials from Trump’s first administration, including former White House adviser Peter Navarro and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.

A recently released recording of Russell Vought, a Project 2025 author and the former director of Trump’s Office of Management and Budget, showed Vought saying Trump’s “very supportive of what we do.” He said Trump was only distancing himself because Democrats were making a bogeyman out of the document.

Project 2025 wouldn’t ban abortion outright, but would curtail access

The Harris campaign shared a graphic on X that claimed “Trump’s Project 2025 plan for workers” would “go after birth control and ban abortion nationwide.”

The plan doesn’t call to ban abortion nationwide, though its recommendations could curtail some contraceptives and limit abortion access.

What’s known about Trump’s abortion agenda neither lines up with Harris’ description nor Project 2025’s wish list.

Project 2025 says the Department of Health and Human Services Department should “return to being known as the Department of Life by explicitly rejecting the notion that abortion is health care.”

It recommends that the Food and Drug Administration reverse its 2000 approval of mifepristone, the first pill taken in a two-drug regimen for a medication abortion. Medication is the most common form of abortion in the U.S. — accounting for around 63 percent in 2023.

If mifepristone were to remain approved, Project 2025 recommends new rules, such as cutting its use from 10 weeks into pregnancy to seven. It would have to be provided to patients in person — part of the group’s efforts to limit access to the drug by mail. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a legal challenge to mifepristone’s FDA approval over procedural grounds.

WATCH: Trump’s plans for health care and reproductive rights if he returns to White House The manual also calls for the Justice Department to enforce the 1873 Comstock Act on mifepristone, which bans the mailing of “obscene” materials. Abortion access supporters fear that a strict interpretation of the law could go further to ban mailing the materials used in procedural abortions, such as surgical instruments and equipment.

The plan proposes withholding federal money from states that don’t report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention how many abortions take place within their borders. The plan also would prohibit abortion providers, such as Planned Parenthood, from receiving Medicaid funds. It also calls for the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure that the training of medical professionals, including doctors and nurses, omits abortion training.

The document says some forms of emergency contraception — particularly Ella, a pill that can be taken within five days of unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy — should be excluded from no-cost coverage. The Affordable Care Act requires most private health insurers to cover recommended preventive services, which involves a range of birth control methods, including emergency contraception.

Trump has recently said states should decide abortion regulations and that he wouldn’t block access to contraceptives. Trump said during his June 27 debate with Biden that he wouldn’t ban mifepristone after the Supreme Court “approved” it. But the court rejected the lawsuit based on standing, not the case’s merits. He has not weighed in on the Comstock Act or said whether he supports it being used to block abortion medication, or other kinds of abortions.

Project 2025 doesn’t call for cutting Social Security, but proposes some changes to Medicare

“When you read (Project 2025),” Harris told a crowd July 23 in Wisconsin, “you will see, Donald Trump intends to cut Social Security and Medicare.”

The Project 2025 document does not call for Social Security cuts. None of its 10 references to Social Security addresses plans for cutting the program.

Harris also misleads about Trump’s Social Security views.

In his earlier campaigns and before he was a politician, Trump said about a half-dozen times that he’s open to major overhauls of Social Security, including cuts and privatization. More recently, in a March 2024 CNBC interview, Trump said of entitlement programs such as Social Security, “There’s a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting.” However, he quickly walked that statement back, and his CNBC comment stands at odds with essentially everything else Trump has said during the 2024 presidential campaign.

Trump’s campaign website says that not “a single penny” should be cut from Social Security. We rated Harris’ claim that Trump intends to cut Social Security Mostly False.

Project 2025 does propose changes to Medicare, including making Medicare Advantage, the private insurance offering in Medicare, the “default” enrollment option. Unlike Original Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans have provider networks and can also require prior authorization, meaning that the plan can approve or deny certain services. Original Medicare plans don’t have prior authorization requirements.

The manual also calls for repealing health policies enacted under Biden, such as the Inflation Reduction Act. The law enabled Medicare to negotiate with drugmakers for the first time in history, and recently resulted in an agreement with drug companies to lower the prices of 10 expensive prescriptions for Medicare enrollees.

Trump, however, has said repeatedly during the 2024 presidential campaign that he will not cut Medicare.

Project 2025 would eliminate the Education Department, which Trump supports

The Harris campaign said Project 2025 would “eliminate the U.S. Department of Education” — and that’s accurate. Project 2025 says federal education policy “should be limited and, ultimately, the federal Department of Education should be eliminated.” The plan scales back the federal government’s role in education policy and devolves the functions that remain to other agencies.

Aside from eliminating the department, the project also proposes scrapping the Biden administration’s Title IX revision, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It also would let states opt out of federal education programs and calls for passing a federal parents’ bill of rights similar to ones passed in some Republican-led state legislatures.

Republicans, including Trump, have pledged to close the department, which gained its status in 1979 within Democratic President Jimmy Carter’s presidential Cabinet.

In one of his Agenda 47 policy videos, Trump promised to close the department and “to send all education work and needs back to the states.” Eliminating the department would have to go through Congress.

What Project 2025, Trump would do on overtime pay

In the graphic, the Harris campaign says Project 2025 allows “employers to stop paying workers for overtime work.”

The plan doesn’t call for banning overtime wages. It recommends changes to some Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, regulations and to overtime rules. Some changes, if enacted, could result in some people losing overtime protections, experts told us.

The document proposes that the Labor Department maintain an overtime threshold “that does not punish businesses in lower-cost regions (e.g., the southeast United States).” This threshold is the amount of money executive, administrative or professional employees need to make for an employer to exempt them from overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In 2019, the Trump’s administration finalized a rule that expanded overtime pay eligibility to most salaried workers earning less than about $35,568, which it said made about 1.3 million more workers eligible for overtime pay. The Trump-era threshold is high enough to cover most line workers in lower-cost regions, Project 2025 said.

The Biden administration raised that threshold to $43,888 beginning July 1, and that will rise to $58,656 on Jan. 1, 2025. That would grant overtime eligibility to about 4 million workers, the Labor Department said.

It’s unclear how many workers Project 2025’s proposal to return to the Trump-era overtime threshold in some parts of the country would affect, but experts said some would presumably lose the right to overtime wages.

Other overtime proposals in Project 2025’s plan include allowing some workers to choose to accumulate paid time off instead of overtime pay, or to work more hours in one week and fewer in the next, rather than receive overtime.

Trump’s past with overtime pay is complicated. In 2016, the Obama administration said it would raise the overtime to salaried workers earning less than $47,476 a year, about double the exemption level set in 2004 of $23,660 a year.

But when a judge blocked the Obama rule, the Trump administration didn’t challenge the court ruling. Instead it set its own overtime threshold, which raised the amount, but by less than Obama.

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The Hate U Give': Book Review Essay
The Hate U Give': Book Review Essay. This essay sample was donated by a student to help the academic community. Papers provided by EduBirdie writers usually outdo students' samples. "Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.". "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas is a young ...
The Hate U Give: an Analytical Exploration
Get original essay. At the heart of The Hate U Give is the character of Starr Carter, a young African American woman who finds herself straddling two worlds: her predominantly Black neighborhood and the predominantly white private school she attends. This duality exposes her to the stark disparities in treatment and opportunity based on race.
Essays on The Hate U Give
1 page / 500 words. The Hate U Give is a young adult novel by Angie Thomas. It follows events in the life of a 16-year-old black girl, Starr Carter, who is drawn to activism after she witnesses a police officer shooting her childhood friend. Angie Thomas demonstrates the complexities... The Hate U Give Racism.
The Hate U Give Enters the Ranks of Great YA Novels
March 28, 2017. "They finally put a sheet over Khalil. He can't breathe under it. I can't breathe.". The last words of Eric Garner, adopted and amplified by the Black Lives Matter movement ...
"The Hate U Give": Analysis of The Theme of Activism
Introduction. In the book The Hate U Give, the author Angie Thomas puts us in the view point of Starr, a teenage girl born and raised in Garden Heights. Which is a lower class black neighborhood where she was forced to witness the murder of her best friend. "The Hate U Give" analysis prominently features the theme of activism, and this essay ...
Injustice in Modern America: Analysis of "The Hate U Give"
This essay examines the themes of racial injustice, education, and family dynamics in Angie Thomas's 'The Hate U Give.' The writer presents a coherent understanding of the protagonist Starr's struggles and the broader societal issues reflected in the narrative.
The Hate U Give Comparison And Analysis
Estimated Read Time | 7 mins. At the time of this article, The Hate U Give has been on the New York Times bestseller list—often number 1—for over two years.If I'd compiled my bestsellers list later, this book would have been on both that list and our spotlight list for Black writers.. The novel tells the story of our main character, a 16-year-old African-American girl named Starr Carter ...
The Hate U Give Essay
Join Now Log in Home Literature Essays The Hate U Give 'The Hate U Give': A Critique of Modern Day American Society The Hate U Give 'The Hate U Give': A Critique of Modern Day American Society Amy Jenkinson 12th Grade. The United States of America has progressed so far in terms of equal rights for all of its citizens that when one looks back at the USA of the past, a country that widely ...
The Hate U Give book review: Angie Thomas's debut stuns
The Hate U Give is a didactic issues novel for teenagers. It is also a good book. Those two categories intersect only rarely, but The Hate U Give — a debut novel by Angie Thomas — manages the ...
Book Review: "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas
The Hate U Give is set to become a modern classic, a stunning contemporary read that captures with unflinching insight the current climate for growing up young and black in America, from the creative voice of an author who has lived and breathed what she writes.The most highly anticipated book of 2017, the debut YA novel from author Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give is a heartbreakingly gripping ...
The Hate U Give Book Review
The Hate U Give Book Review. "Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.". The Hate U Give is a young adult novel whose protagonist, sixteen-year-old- Starr, witnesses the murder of her friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. She is shocked and deeply heart-broken, but ...
'The Hate U Give'
The story starts with Starr going to a party in her neighborhood with her half brother, Seven's sister Kenya. Starr feels isolated at the party and ends up reconnecting with her childhood best ...
Literary Analysis of The Hate U Give
On August 28, 2018, a former white Texas police officer, Roy Oliver was found guilty for shooting a 15 year old black boy, Jordan Edwards who was unarmed. In the book "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas, Starr Carter, a 16 year old black girl goes to a dominantly white middle school, Williamson and lives in a "ghetto" neighborhood, Garden ...
The Hate U Give Themes and Analysis
Degree from University Of Nigeria, Nsukka. The themes of a story are the deeper meanings and truth that the book reveals. Sometimes they are easily found like this book, but other times, you have read it many times before you can find it. 'The Hate U Give' by Angie Thomas is a story for a young adult novel. It is about the life of 16-year ...
Review: The Hate U Give
The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas, is a young-adult novel that can be found in many high-school classrooms today. The story follows the experience of Starr Carter, a sixteen-year-old girl who lives in the fictional inner-city neighborhood of Garden Heights. On the surface, the novel pulls back the curtain on some of the realities of inner-city life.
The Hate U Give Book Review
The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas is a look into what a lot of black communities go through in the United States. The speaker is a girl named Starr Carter who is sixteen and lives in a neighborhood called Garden Heights. Her friend, Khalil, has an altercation with the cops and ends up being shot. From that point on, there are protests at Garden ...
The Hate U Give
Review: "Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.". Riveting, emotionally fraught and heartbreakingly honest, The Hate U Give is one of the most powerful YA contemporaries I've read till date. You know, all the hype and attention this book has been getting, all those ...
The Hate U Give
The Hate U Give. by Angie Thomas. Publication Date: September 4, 2018. Genres: Fiction. Hardcover: 512 pages. Publisher: Balzer + Bray. ISBN-10: 0062872346. ISBN-13: 9780062872340. Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends.
"The Hate U Give," Reviewed: An Empathetic ...
Richard Brody reviews "The Hate U Give,"directed by George Tillman, Jr., and starring Amandla Sternberg, an explicitly political movie that advocates a manifestly progressive view of its subjects.
Fact-checking warnings from Democrats about Project 2025 and ...
"When you read (Project 2025)," Harris told a crowd July 23 in Wisconsin, "you will see, Donald Trump intends to cut Social Security and Medicare." The Project 2025 document does not call ...

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