THUG: The Hate U Give on Racism and Discrimination of African Americans

“For a text to truly engage its audience, it needs to offer us a different perspective of life as we know it.” The Hate U Give (T H U G) directed by George Tillman Jr is a compassionate, nuanced portrayal of a teen’s political arising. It provides a contemporary engaging perspective on the issue of Racism and does so with emotional energy and a set of complex characters in uncertain situations. It explores the trouble-filled engagement between African Americans and the white community. As the first film to highlight modern day racism in the USA it offers us a different perspective of life as we know it. The film adapted from the 2017 novel by Angie Thomas coveys a powerful message through the eyes of an African-American teenage girl, Starr, who witnesses the death of her best friend, Khalil, at the hands of a police officer and the struggles that emerge from this experience.

T H U G is inspired by the shooting of an unarmed black man by the police in 2009 and of course The Great Tupac Amaru Shakur who was an activist through hip pop music. While studying Thomas wrote stories about the Rachel Jeantel, one of Trayvon Martin’s (an unarmed black man who was shot by the police) friend, who spoke on the phone with Martin at the time of his death. Jeantel was publically ridiculed because many thought Jeantel sounded ignorant. Enraged by the media’s opinion of Jeantel, Thomas created a main character who knows how to talk in a way that the white mainstream media considers as well-spoken. Tillman in collaboration with Thomas was able to provide an authentic perspective in the film since Thomas’ inspiration was directly connected to an actual injustice. Thomas’ strong opinion and Tillman’s experience with injustices assisted in forcefully presenting this issue for the first time through an African American teenager. “Why in this day and age our young black boys must be killed for just being black” – Resident of Garden Height (THUG).

It is a rare thing to find films that represent educated African American girls as the protagonist as opposed to films starring the stereotypical “struggling uneducated black girl”. T H U G stars a non-stereotypical African American female teenager whose perspective highlights racial injustices towards African Americans community in this day and age. Starr Carter played by Amandla Stenberg is a 16-year-old black girl who lives in a mostly poor black neighbourhood, but attends a predominantly white private school. For the most part, Starr had to develop two different personas; she behaves one way in Garden Heights and another way at school. This concept of “code switching” that may be new to many mainstream viewers that are unaware that many black girls in particular have to move between multiple social identities led to engagement. Starr found code switching difficult and it became even more intense when she witnesses the futile shooting of her childhood friend Khalil (Algee Smith).

Foreshadowing the tragedy to come, a gun goes off at a party Starr is attending one weekend, Starr is driven home by her childhood best friend, Khalil. On the way home, they are stopped by a white police officer for basically “driving while black”. The white officer has Khalil exit the car; as, Khalil reaches inside his car to check in on Starr, he picks up a hairbrush. The officer, thinking Khalil picked up a gun, fires three shots into Khalil, killing him. Khalil's death becomes major national news story and viewers see Starr struggle to embrace who she is and stand up for what's right. Starr's identity as the witness is at first kept secret from just everyone outside Starr's family - leaving Starr's two best friends and white boyfriend, who all attend the same school together, to be unaware of Starr's connection to the major controversial story. Having to keep this secret weighs on Starr, as does her need to keep her Williamson and Garden Heights identities separate. From the opening moments of the film when ten-year-old Starr and her younger siblings receive “the talk” from her father Maverick (Russell Hornsby) about police encounters and the doctrines of the Black Panther Party platform to the tragic fatal shooting to the very end with Starr’s narration is why this film is engaging.

This film highlights also the Black Lives Matter Movement through the unique perspective of Starr. The true reason behind this movement is little known and understood and this film brings to light the movement that. The BLM movement was started by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi and they organized civil action and protests in response to violence against black communities. This film utilised powerful components of this movement through the portrayal of Opal Tometi in the film who encourages peaceful protests for Khalil who senselessly lost his life. Opal Tometi’s character played by Issa Rae motivated Starr to fight for her best friend. The 21st century has seen violence and brutality, “the same story just a different name”, within the black community and this film highlights all the “hate” within black communities. African Americans were and still are caught up in the racial poverty trap and have to endure injustices and this is the “hate”.

Before the BLM movement there was rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur who was an activist against all that oppressed black communities. The title is direct reference to this tattoo he coined himself, T-H-U-G-L-I-F-E: The Hate U Give Little Infants F--ks everybody. The usage of Thug which is a derogative term used by people for drug dealers and gang members is quite powerful since it really explains that some have absolutely no choice since the “trap” is their only strong source. “What society gives us as youth, it bites them in the ass when we wild out. Get it?” this was said by Khalil a few moments before he was shot; this is what The Hate U Give means, when all the bad (hate) in society is given to little children, when they grow up their opinions manifests strongly. “When unarmed black people lose their lives, the hate they’ve been given screws us all. We see it in the form of anger and we see it in the form of riots” – Maverick (Starr’s Dad). “When the Khalil’s get arrested for selling drugs, they either spend most of their life in prison, another billion-dollar industry, or they have a hard time getting a real job and probably start selling drugs again. That’s the hate they’re giving us, baby, a system designed against us. That’s Thug Life” – Maverick (Starr’s Dad) .The Hate U Give goes beyond clichés and stereotypes, it provides insights on little known issues and highlights pertinent facts and this is why it’s a conversation starter.

Tillman showcases the perspective of police brutality from every one of all races in the film, including police, students and parents. We see this in several scenes in the film where police patrol the streets of Garden Heights and harass innocent people. This engaging perspective evokes ideas about identity and the true definition of blackness, the fortifying stereotypes against people of colour and the cycle of racialized poverty. Starr attends a school with mostly white, upper-class students and then returned to Garden Heights which is snowed under with drugs and gang activity, but it's also a place where people nurture families and live their lives. The lack of connection between Starr's life at school and her life at home is drawn along racial lines and is evident in the way she's reluctant to share the truth of her home life with her boyfriend and friends at school. She also refused to bring people from her two worlds together. Starr feels simultaneously “too black” to talk about Khalil’s life and death with her school peers, but “too white” at home to stand up for Khalil. Starr’s identity conflict is seen in her father figures, Maverick and Uncle Carlos, who have different perspectives on authentic blackness. Maverick, who embodied Tupac, had the idea that authentic blackness involved staying in your community and initiating change while Carlos thought that he can support black communities by means of white organizations like the police force to combat gang violence. The constant disagreement between Maverick and Uncle Carlos highlights how difficult it is for Starr to merge her two worlds.

Underlying the traumatic events of The Hate U Give is the nature of the cycle of racialized poverty, which was highlighted by Maverick. According to Tupac, widespread racism keeps black communities from the opportunities and resources needed for financial prosperity, and poverty feeds on itself, affecting generations of black families. This cycle entraps many of The Hate U Give’s black characters into a situation where they cannot escape poverty without relying on the drug trade, which is then used to devalue them as people in both life and death. Maverick Carter in T H U G was born to a drug dealer due to the problems shaped by poverty and he joined a gang to create a sense of security. The inclusion of Tupac’s beliefs blasts racial injustices still faced in America today and his dynamic music elevated the film. The knowledge and vibe within the music was a powerful technique used by Tillman. With the narration of Starr in the film, Tillman was able to effectively give insight to the biggest minority group in America. Also Tillman’s repetition of facts such as police brutality, Tupac’s word and the emotional energy of the characters engages individuals and they were able to see that Black Lives Do Matter through Khalil and the many that are injustice in Garden Heights.

The Hate U Give truly engaged its audience as it offered viewers a different perspective of life as it is known. The authenticity of this film is what makes it engaging. This film elucidated racial injustices that still occur in today’s contemporary American society. Director Tillman along with Thomas educated the uneducated about these injustices with the convincing usage of vibes by Tupac, emotional energy and the trouble-filled engagement between African Americans and the white community. The climax of this film showed that people of African descent in America are yet to be treated equally and they are humans that deserve privileges too.

References

1. 'Sparknotes: The Hate U Give'. Sparknotes.Com, 2018, https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/the-hate-u-give/ (Accessed 18 Aug 2019).
2. Brody, Richard et al. '“The Hate U Give,” Reviewed: An Empathetic, Nuanced Portrait Of A Teen’S Political Awakening'. The New Yorker, 2018, https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/the-hate-u-give-reviewed-an-empathetic-nuanced-portrait-of-a-teens-political-awakening (Accessed 18 Aug 2019)
3. Terry, Sasha. '“The Hate U Give” Review: This Film Represents The Reality Of Complex Social Issues - The Chimes'. The Chimes, 2018, https://chimesnewspaper.com/41935/entertainment/the-hate-u-give-review-this-film-represents-the-reality-of-complex-social-issues/ (Accessed 18 Aug 2019).
4. Rose, Amanda et al. ''The Hate U Give' Reflects Realities Of Racial Violence Through A Young Woman's Perspective - The Tufts Daily'. The Tufts Daily, 2018, https://tuftsdaily.com/arts/2018/10/24/hate-u-give-reflects-realities-racial-violence-young-womans-perspective/.
5. 'The Hate U Give (2018) - Imdb'. Imdb, 2018, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5580266/plotsummary?ref_=tt_stry_pl.