BLM

 BLM

    I know I can't relate to having experienced racism but I can understand enough to know that so many people's lives are much harder and unfair than mine. From what I hear on the news all the time and from books I've read based on true stories, racism has never really gone away. In The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, a book based on true events, a teenage black girl witnesses her best friend, Khalil, killed by a police officer who just assumed that they were doing something wrong. There are so many stories like that that really are happening, people and police just assuming that someone is a threat because of the color of their skin and shooting without asking questions. 

In the book the main character, Starr, went to a fancy private school where she was one of the only black kids at school. Starr had to talk and act differently because she couldn't “sound black” or get mad so she wouldn’t be judged. This is something I never really had to think about before, but Starr did because she was black and people were just waiting for her to do anything wrong. Since she was the only witness the night when Khalil was killed, she was questioned by the police. Instead of asking questions about the officer who shot him they asked about whether or not Khalil sold drugs and they made it seem like it was his fault he was killed. The thing is he did sell drugs for a while before he died and after everyone found out, it was all they focused on and not what the cop had done wrong.  It was as if he deserved to die, but last time I checked dealing drugs or resisting arrest is not a capital offense.  Yes, selling drugs is bad but since I’ve never had to choose between paying the electricity bill and food, and not having any other ways to make money because, I don’t think I can judge him. The cop didn’t mean to kill him but let’s be honest, if Kahil was white, would the cop have shot first and asked questions later?  In an interview the officer made it seem like Starr and Khalil had been a threat and he had reason to be suspicious from the beginning. The officer didn’t end up being charged with anything no matter what Starr said to tell the truth. The main idea of the book is Starr’s grief at losing her friend while trying to find the courage to speak up for him and against the injustice she witnessed. To make it even harder, not everyone wanted her to speak out, like the gang Khalil sold for or the officer who patted down her father in front of his kids. A lot of people don’t want to believe in white privilege since it's not a good feeling to know that white people have benefited from a system that is unfair to black people, but it is real. The Hate U Give really helped me see how different life would be if you were already expected to mess up just because of the color of your skin.