Read Banned Books: The Hate U Give
- Dan
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Read Banned Books
Read the books "the man" says are dangerous. Be a rebel! Read banned books! Think dangerous thoughts!
Previous entries in this series:
The Hate U Give
Like Internment, another banned book I recently read, The Hate U Give is a difficult read because it hits so close to home. What's truly terrible is that the story hits home for so many people, especially in minority communities. Now I'm clearly not a minority in the United States, but my wife is. My sons are biracial, and the older boy was targeted for bullying by his peers for the color of his skin a few years back.
So yeah, a tale about a young man being targeted by the police for being black and the aftermath of that encounter hits close to home, but it doesn't hit home. You see, in this novel, that young man, that teen, that child is shot and killed. I can't help wondering if my children might be targeted by those who are meant to protect and serve simply for having different skin color.
What Angie Thomas does brilliantly in this book is give us the perspective of Star, the witness to the killing, and that of her family and entire community. The fear. The frustration. The hate. The obligation to do something. The victim had a black hairbrush in the car door. A hairbush. The shooter thought it was a gun and shot him.
An unarmed black teen.
An unarmed teen.
Reasons given for banning this novel are sexual content, profanity, drug use, and an anti-police message. All I have to say is, what a joke! The sexual content is minimal, drug use (and dealing) is not directly seen on the page, and claiming the story has an anti-police message misses the point. What is claimed to be an anti-police message is really a stop targeting for our race, for where we live, and for our economic situation message. And honestly, if you saw people who look like you, unarmed people, being killed by the police, I think you'd feel anti-police and be justified in feeling that way.
The real reason The Hate U Give is banned is that the story allows the reader to walk a mile in the shoes of a black teenage girl and her community. This allows the reader to understand where these victimized communities are coming from when they demand justice and economic opportunity. That challenges the status quo, and that is something the book banner can't tolerate.
Addendum
I originally wrote this post several weeks before the happenings in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Perhaps, by the time the post publishes, this addendum will be outdated.
Is it any wonder that the book banners would try to ban a novel for having an anti-police message? Look at what's happening in Minneapolis, ICE is murdering people, with the only justification being that ICE has the authority of the badge and the victims do not. It is an obvious situation of might makes right. The message is clear: do not dare question our authority, or this could happen to you and yours.
In The Hate U Give, a teenage boy was murdered. The justification? He had a hairbrush that "looked like a gun." In Minneapolis, Minnesota, an ICU nurse was killed. Why was Alex Pretti slain? I don't know that we'll ever know the precise reason. But I do know this. The root cause is that he dared question those with power.
