‘The Hate U Give’ talks police brutality

“The Hate U Give” is a book written by Angie Thomas and a recently released movie about the realness of police brutality. The title is a reference to Tupac Shakur’s “THUG LIFE” tattoo and covers topics related to the tattoo’s meaning.

“Pac said Thug Life stood for “The Hate U Give Little Infants F**** Everybody. T-H-U-G-L-I-F-E. Meaning what society gives us as youth, it bites them in the a** when we wild out. Get it?” Angie Thomas writes in the book.

The book was No. 1 on The New York Times best-seller list for young adult hardcover books in March 2017.

This book and film are unlike your ordinary story of police brutality. It gives a closer look at the effects after innocent black lives are taken. The story gives many viewpoints, including the eye witness to the incident, the family of the victim and an insight to how the police handle situations like this.

The George Tillman Jr. film hit theaters on Oct. 5 and received a 96 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie stars Amandla Stenberg, Algee Smith, Issa Rae and Common and Regina Hall.

Starr Carter, played by Stenberg, is a teenager who witnessed her life-long friend Khalil Harris be killed by a police officer. Her uncle is a police officer, so she sees the incident through his lens and her own, as a witness.

The film confronts the seriousness of racism and police violence while showing the resilience of black people through adversity. It was real, and was an accurate depiction of the world we live in. “It's dope to be black until it's hard to be black,” Angie Thomas wrote in the novel.

It had a lot of similarities to the stories we’ve seen about police brutality like Michael Brown and Eric Garner. It was relatable and seemed like the stories we hear about in the news.

The film tugged at heartstrings because it was a deeper look into the reality of the relationship between black people and the police. This is the story of a girl going from a witness to a revolutionary. Viewers got to see the impact of violence and how it negatively affects the black community.

The movie ended with the result of what happens to the hate we give to little infants. It showed how powerful hate is and the influence it has on young minds.

I cried five times because it was that good. Go see the movie, read the book and join the conversation.