As race becomes increasingly more problematic these days [who knows where America is headed], some will clearly be more impacted by it than others.
Black folks for example.
Here, in particular, Starr Carter. Starr makes the daily trek back and forth between “two worlds”. She lives in a “poor, mostly black neighborhood” but gets her education in a “wealthy, mostly white prep school”.
So there are basically two of her. At least in the beginning of the film.
Then one day both worlds collide when she is a witness to a shooting. A white cop shoots and kills a black childhood friend. The community reacts. But, as in many communities these days, the narratives can pop up anywhere along the political divide. And then the exploration into what exactly constitutes racism in our world today — all of the “complexities” involved.
Or, as one IMDb reviewer puts it, “I think the author of the book that this film is based on, understands the frustrating fact that some of the worst issues that need fixing have no quick and easy solutions, and are complex and take time for the human mind to understand – especially to the minds of those who aren’t being affected / victimized, who inevitably take longer to understand.”
Just imagine the reactions of some here. And not only the knee-jerk Kids.
In some respects however this is like a Young Adult version of these worlds colliding. The way in which some might imagine it all to be if they were not really a part of either world themselves. I certainly have never been. So I have no way of knowing how realistic it all is. Still, America’s “youth culture” is often portrayed here almost entirely as I imagine it to be. Most of them being completely self-absorbed and oblivious to the systemic nature of political economy.
IMDb
[b]Kian Lawley was initially cast as Chris but was replaced by KJ Apa after videos surfaced on YouTube of Lawley using racially offensive slurs.
The Hate U Give is adapted from the novel “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas published in 2017. It is after the death of the young Oscar Grant at Fruitvale Station in 2009 that the young woman, then a student, writes a short story on police violence against the African-American population. A few years later, as the country faced other such events that led to the birth of the Black Lives Matter protest movement, she decided to make it a book through which she could express her entire life anger: “The Hate U Give” is a real card and Hollywood offers the rights quickly.
The title of the film and Angie Thomas’s novel refers to the concept of THUG LIFE - the acronym for The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody (the hatred we inculcate in children eventually destroys us all) - developed by the rapper Tupac Shakur.[/b]
trivia at IMDb: imdb.com/title/tt5580266/tr … tt_trv_trv
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hate_U_Give_(film
trailer: youtu.be/3MM8OkVT0hw
The Hate U Give [2018]
Directed by George Tillman Jr.
[b]Mav: Now, when it happens, don’t act mad. You gotta look calm. Answer their questions, but don’t tell ‘em nothin’ extra. Keep your hands out your pockets. You drop somethin’, leave that shit where it’s at.
Lisa [wife]: Maverick.
Mav: Leave that stuff where it’s at. My bad. Now, one day, y’all gonna be with me, and you best bet we gonna get pulled over. That don’t mean I did somethin’ wrong. Maybe I made a mistake driving or maybe I ain’t do nothin’ at all. You gonna see me with my hands like this. Flat on the dashboard. Now, you keep your hands posted 'cause moving makes the police get all nervous. If I ain’t with you, you ask for me. It can get real dangerous, so don’t argue with them…but keep your hands where they can see 'em. This how you gonna act. We straight?
Starr [voiceover]: I was nine years old when I first got “the talk”.
Mav [handing her a sheet of paper]: Now, this the Black Panther Ten-Point Program. This our own Bill of Rights. I want you to learn it. 'Cause Imma ask you about it. Imma quiz you.
Lisa: Really, Maverick? Know your rights. Know your worth…?
…
Starr [voiceover]: Mama thinks Daddy is scared of change. She left the Garden when she was a little girl. And she wants us to get out too. Either way, you gotta stay ready. 'Cause Garden Heights is always gonna be ready for you…And then there’s King. He runs the King Lords. My dad used to be his right-hand man. The high school is where you go to get jumped, high, pregnant, or killed. We don’t go there. Not since what happened to my friend Natasha. So Mama sent us to another school where everyone’s college-bound…
…
Starr [voiceover]: Garden Heights is one world. Williamson is another. And I gotta keep it separate. So when I’m here, I’m Starr Version Two. That means flipping a switch in my brain. Williamson Starr doesn’t use slang. If a rapper would say it, she doesn’t. Even if her white friends do. Slang makes them “cool”. Slang makes me “hood.”…Williamson Starr is approachable. No stank eyes or yelling because Williamson Starr is non-confrontational. Basically, Williamson Starr doesn’t give anyone a reason to call her ghetto. And I hate myself for doing it.
…
Hailey [her white friend]: Let me at him. I’ll kick his ass. If someone tries to do some shit to my girl, I have to get him. I’m serious, Starr. I will go after him. I will kick his ass. I do not care. You just say the word.
Starr [voiceover]: Hailey must’ve watched Straight Outta Compton again last night…
…
Starr: Look, Chris is great, but I’m just not ready. And eventually, I’ll get there, but he just assumed.
Hailey: Assuming. Punishable by death. So, you’re gonna Taylor Swift this?
Starr: She doesn’t even rank on the angry girlfriend scale anymore. Nah. I’m gonna Beyonce his ass.
Starr [voiceover]: I really wanna “Elevator Solange” his ass.
…
Starr [after Khalil turns on some music in his car]: Man, so you gonna come at me for my music while you listening to this old stuff?
Khalil: Oh, old stuff? You better get up out my car with that. Tupac is the truth.
Starr: Yeah, 20 years ago.
Khalil: No, even still, right now. Listen, let me tell you something. Pac said, THUG LIFE. It means, “The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody.” T-H-U-G-L-I-F-E.
Starr: Meaning what?
Khalil: Meaning what society gives to us when we little comes back to bite them in the ass when we grow up, and we wild out. You get that?
Starr: Damn. Yeah.
Khalil: Pac’s gonna always be relevant.
…
Starr: So you gonna tell me why you really been busy, Khalil?
Khalil: Because that McJob that I had didn’t make nothin’ happen. And plus grandma got fired from the hospital when they found out she was sick.
Starr: Damn, that’s messed up, K, for real.
Khalil: You know, we got needs.
Starr: If you selling that stuff…
Khalil: Hey, come on now. Mind your business, Starr-Starr. Don’t worry about me. I’m doing what I gotta do.
…
Starr [after a cop shoots Khalil]: What did you do?!
Cop: Be quiet, ma’am.
Starr: Help him!
Cop: I want you to stay where you are! Do not move, okay?
Starr: He’s bleeding! Help him! Come on! He’s bleeding!
Cop: Where is it? Where’s the weapon? The gun! Where is it?!!
[it was a hairbrush]
…
Detective Gomez: Starr, do you know why Khalil reached into the car?
Starr: I think he was checking to see that I was okay.
Detective: You think? You don’t know?
Starr: No, I don’t know.
Detective: Because?
Starr; Because that’s when it happened. [/b]
The actual incident was ambiguous. The cop pulled them over for not signaling a lane change. He shot Khalil because he took his hands off the top of the car, reached into the car and pulled out a hairbrush. The cop thought it was a gun.
[b]Detective: Did you drink alcohol at the party?
Starr: No, I don’t drink.
Detective: Did Khalil?
Starr: Not that I saw.
Detective: Did you ever see Khalil sell narcotics?
Starr: No, I never personally saw Khalil sell drugs or do drugs.
Detective: But you knew that he did?
Lisa: You have not asked my daughter one question about the cop.
Detective: We just want the whole picture, miss. That’s all.
Lisa: Well, you ask questions about what happened.
Starr: 115 killed Khalil. And he didn’t do anything wrong. So I don’t know what more of a bigger picture you need!
…
Mav: So what’s the deal? His ass in jail?
Carlos [a black cop and friend of the family]: They’re gonna place him on paid administrative leave.
Starr: That’s it? After he killed Khalil?
Carlos: Starr, there will be a full investigation.
Mav: Cops investigating cops, huh? You know they should’ve charged his racist ass with murder. But that ain’t gonna happen, is it, Uncle Carlos?
Carlos: Nothing like this has ever happened with this officer before.
Mav: Oh, first-timer. Let’s cut him a break.
…
Starr [voiceover to herself]: Grand jury. Stuff like this ends up on the news. People get death threats. Cops target them. What will it mean at school? Will I suddenly be the poor girl from the hood who saw her friend get killed? I just gotta be quiet.
…
Friend: So you famous now.
Starr: What?
Friend: I saw you leave with Khalil. Now you all jittery and jumpy and shit. It’s you, Starr. Don’t even lie. You ready to stir some shit up?
Starr: What you mean?
Friend: Well, you was there, so you gotta tell everybody what happened. You’re gonna stand up for Khalil, right? Listen, Brenda can’t be the only one talking. You know Khalil would’ve stood tall and spoke for you.
…
King: Hey, Starr. Remember what I told you, all right? You keep that shit in your rearview.
…
Lisa: I’m telling you. He was threatening her!
Mav: He ain’t gonna hurt her.
Lisa: He will. If he thinks that Starr is gonna tell the police that Khalil worked for him, he will. And then what? Hmm? He’s gonna rope you right back in. Once a King Lord, always a King Lord.
Mav: When you spend three years in lockup doing somebody else’s time, ain’t no roping back in. He let me out. That was our deal.
…
Lisa: You listen! It’s okay to make sacrifices for your family. God! Do you think that my mother moved me and Carlos out of Garden Heights and into that Catholic school so we could learn how to pray? No. I’m gonna make sure that my kids have it at least as good as I did. If not, what’s the point?
Mav: That’s why we have them up there in that school!
Lisa: And what do you think that school will do when they find out that Starr was with Khalil? Hmm? Those white folks, they love to boast about how diverse that school is, but you know what? This is too much diversity for them.
…
Starr: It’s THUG LIFE. “The Hate U Give Little Infants…”
Mav; “F’s Everybody.” I know what it stands for. What do you think it means?
Starr: I think it’s about more than just the youth. I think it’s about us.
Mav: Us who?
Starr: Black people. Poor people. Everybody at the bottom.
Mav: Right, you on it. Pac was trying to school us on how the system’s designed against us. Why else you think so many people in our neighborhood deal?
Starr: They need the money.
Mav: Yeah. And there ain’t no real jobs around here, so they fall into the trap. Drugs a multi-billion-dollar industry. Brothers like me and Khalil get caught up ‘cause it look like a way out. But that shit is flown into our communities…and I don’t know nobody with a private jet. Do you? And then they trap us. And we end up in prison, another billion-dollar hustle. And they got us riding through there like we on a conveyor belt. That’s how I end up in prison with my daddy.
Son: You went to jail with your own daddy?
Mav: Yep. But when I caught up with him, wasn’t nothin’ he can do to help me. He was just a weak, old man with regrets. And his light was gone. And I swore that would never be me. Because Imma break the cycle for my kids.
…
April [addressing the congregation]: I’m April Ofrah, a lawyer with Just Us For Justice. Just before the service, I was informed that the police have no intentions of arresting the officer who murdered this young man. Despite having a credible eyewitness. This is the last place I wanted to be today. And I know I’m not alone. But here we are again. Violence, brutality. It’s the same story, just a different name.Today’s name is Khalil Harris. Another unarmed, young, black man. What does that tell us? Shamell Bell said it best. “It is impossible to be unarmed when our blackness is the weapon that they fear.” And I refuse to let our blackness be seen as a weapon or as a weakness. That is why the Harris family and I ask you to join us after the service…for a peaceful march past the police station. Division is how they win. Unity is how they crumble.
…
April: Khalil can’t speak for himself. He needs a voice. Starr is it.
Lisa: I don’t like this already.
Mav: Lisa, just hear her on out.
Aprtil: Starr, do you understand what a grand jury is?
Starr: Yeah. It’s where they decide if somebody should go to trial.
April: Right. It’s when they decide if charges should be brought against Officer Macintosh. Lisa: Will they indict him?
April: 99 percent of the time, the grand jury indicts.
Mav: What about that one percent they don’t?
April: Those cases almost always involve a cop.
Starr: But that won’t happen this time, because I saw everything.
April: When Khalil was shot, where were you exactly?
Starr: In the passenger seat.
April: Have any proof of what you saw? Like, did you record it on a phone?
Starr: Nah, the officer told me to drop it.
Seven: So Khalil will never have his day in court? All 'cause a cop shot him?
April: That’s why our trial begins now. On the streets, in the media. Starr is Khalil’s only witness.
Mav: All right. Where do we start?
April: With a TV interview.
Lisa: No. I know what you’re fighting for, but I fight for Starr. And I won’t put her at risk.
…
Starr [as April is about to leave]: My other best friend was murdered when we were both ten. We were playing basketball on the sidewalk. When this car rolled by…and this tatted hand pulled out a gun. We must have been in the way. It was three shots. And she was on the ground. And I remember… I remember she looked really scared…because she was about to see what happens after you die. And I know who did it.
Lisa: What? Starr, you never told us that.
Starr: It was a King Lord. He missed me once…and I didn’t want to give him another chance, so I didn’t snitch. And then I heard a few months later that he got killed. So I didn’t say anything. Now tell me, Miss Ofrah…what kind of friend is that?
April: You can’t blame yourself for that, Starr. You were young. You are young.
Starr: I wanna be a better friend for Khalil. But goin’ on TV…I don’t know about all that.
…
Lisa: So, just 'cause some dumb, privileged white kids skip class, you think it’s okay for you to leave school too? Well, guess what, Starr.
Both in unison: It is what it is.
Starr: I know, Mama. But they’re acting like Khalil was murdered just so that they can skip a chem test. And I didn’t do anything about it. Mama…I need to speak for him.
…
John: Let me guess. You’re Starr. Starr, thank you so much for having the courage to do this. Diane’s very excited to have you. We even bumped a segment to make sure yours airs tonight.
Lisa: And you’re sure the thing we talked about is happening?
John: It’s arranged. They’ve agreed to blur Starr’s face. No one watching will ever know it’s her.
…
Diane [interviewing Starr for a TV segment]: You are the only witness to the shooting death of a young, unarmed black man by a police officer. Now, millions of people across the country have heard the name Khalil Harris. Who was he to you?
Starr; We knew each other since we were babies but if he was here, he would probably say… that he was actually five months, two weeks, and one day older than me.
Diane: He was a kid.
Starr: Yep.
Diane: What do you think about the people that are only focusing on the not-so-good aspects of Khalil? That he sold drugs.
Starr: Well, if they knew why, then they wouldn’t talk about him like that.
Diane: Why did he sell them?
Starr: Khalil’s mom loved him, but she was an addict so there was no one to bring in money to help his little brother… and his grandma who has cancer. So he had to take the only available job in the neighborhod that would pay him enough to help them.
Diane: Available job?
Starr: Dealing for the biggest drug dealers in Garden Heights. The King Lords.
Diane: So there’s one gang that controls your entire neighborhood? Tell me about that.
Starr: Why are you only asking me about that? I mean, next week, I’ll be called to testify in a grand jury investigation, but no one wants to know what actually happened. Everyone wants to know what Khalil did. What he said, what he didn’t do. Like it’s his fault. I didn’t know that a dead person could be charged with his own murder.
Diane: If Officer Macintosh were sitting here now…what would you say to him?
Starr: I’d ask him if he wished that he shot me too.
…
Reporter [on TV]: Officer Brian Macintosh Junior has been on the force for five years. A majority of those years serving in Garden Heights, known for its high crime rate, with murders up 15 percent this year alone. Officers have struggled for years to rein in the violence. Changes in policies, gangs, and drugs have remained an issue for this predominantly African American community.
Father [on TV]: Brian is a good boy. People, they’re making him out to be a monster. He’s afraid to go out in public, even for a gallon of milk. There’s been threats against his life. Our family’s lives.
Hailey: Wow. That sucks. That poor family.
Starr: What?
Hailey: His son was only trying to do his job and protect himself. His life matters too, you know…That cop’s life matters also. Are you gonna be mad because I said that, too?
Starr: Yeah. Because you think that his life matters more than the person that you said you were protesting for. That’s a problem. You unfollowed my Tumblr after the protest. Why? Was it the picture of Emmett Till that did it? Did you sympathize with his poor family before you looked away?
Hailey: Okay. Maya, now she’s calling me a racist.
…
Starr: Have you ever seen somebody die?
Chris: No.
Starr: Well, I have twice now. That’s why my parents put me and my brothers in Williamson. To protect us. And now…it’s like I have to hide who I am every single day. When I’m at home, I can’t be too Williamson. When I’m here, I can’t act too Garden Heights. Khalil was my first crush. My first kiss. And he was going through so much shit…and I didn’t even know… because I turned my back on him. I turned my back on all of my people. Do you even know what that’s like?
Chris: No. And I’m sorry, Starr. I really am. But black, white…nobody gives a shit. We’re all the same.
Starr: But we’re not. Y’all wanna act black, but you get to keep your white privilege. You think playing ball and jumping in some lame-ass Williamson cypher makes you understand what it is to be black? It doesn’t.
Chris: Starr, I just told you I don’t see color. I see people for who they are. The exact same way I see you.
Starr: If you don’t see my blackness, you don’t see me.
Chris: I see you.
…
Mav: Who’s this?
Starr: Daddy, this is Chris.
Mav: Who’s Chris?
Starr: Chris is my boyfriend.
Mav: You got a boyfriend?
Lisa: Well, who do you think she went to prom with?
Mav: You got a white boyfriend?
Lisa: Uh, Daddy, he’s not my white boyfriend. He’s just my boyfriend.
Mav: That boy is white.
…
Carlos: Someone’s trying to scare you about the grand jury tomorrow. Did it work?
Starr: Why do we need a grand jury to decide if this should go to trial?
Carlos: Some people don’t see what happened to Khalil as a crime. They see it as a traffic stop gone wrong. A lot goes through a cop’s mind when they pull someone over. Especially if they have to get into a pissing contest with the driver about why they stopped him. It sets off an alarm. The officer thinks…“Are they hiding somethin’? Is the car stolen?” Now, if there’s a girl in the passenger seat like you… “Does she look all right? Has she been beaten or raped?” If they start talking to each other and not the officer, we figure they might be trying to distract. What are they hiding in the car? Drugs? A weapon? Now, if the driver starts to insult the officer, we try to verbally get control of the situation. But if they still don’t comply, then we… we have to use force.
Starr: But you still don’t know if they did anything wrong.
Carlos: That’s why we search them. To make sure that they don’t have a weapon. We run their license and instruct them not to move. But if they open the door… or reach through an open window… they’re probably goin’ for a weapon. So if I think I see a gun…I don’t hesitate. I shoot.
Starr: You shoot? Because you think you see a gun? You don’t say something first? Like, “Put your hands up”?
Carlos: It depends. Is it night? Can I see? Am I on duty alone?
Starr: What if you were in a white neighborhood? And it was a white man wearing a suit, driving a Mercedes? He could be a drug dealer, right?
Carlos: He could.
Starr: So if you saw him… reach into the window… and you thought that you saw a gun… would you shoot him? Or would you say, “Put your hands up”?
Carlos: I’d say, “Put your hands up.”
Starr: Do you hear what you just said?
Carlos: We live in a complicated world, Starr.
Starr: No. No, it doesn’t seem that complicated to me.
…
Hailey: So, I guess you’re not gonna get over it anytime soon?
Starr: Get over it?
Hailey: Yes. Get over it.
Starr: You can’t even see that you’re acting racist, huh?
Hailey: 'Cause I’m not.
Starr: It’s all “our,” and “us,” and “black lives matter, girl” until you clutch your purse when you’re in the elevator with a black person. You don’t need to use the N-word and use a firehose on black people to be racist, Hailey.
Hailey: You’re different, Starr.
Starr: I’m different? What, I’m the nonthreatening black girl?
Hailey: Yeah. You are. Your friend wasn’t. He was a drug dealer. Someone was probably gonna kill him eventually.
Maya: Are you serious, Hailey?
Hailey: Yes. The officer did see a weapon.
Starr: He saw a hairbrush.
Hailey: That looked like a weapon.
Starr [grabbing Hailey’s hairbrush from her pockebook]: What’s this in my hand right now? You’re gonna tell me that this looks like a weapon?
Hailey: In his hand, yes.
Starr: What about in my hand? Huh? Huh? Does it look like a weapon? Does it look like a weapon now?!!
…
Starr [after King beat up Seven]: Iesha, what happened? What happened?
Iesha: You snitched and earned an ass whoopin’. My baby took it for you. Bleedin’ all on my floor and shit. Get him outta here.
…
Starr: Hey, is it true?
Protestor: Cop goes free. No trial, nothing. The grand jury didn’t indict.
…
Starr [into a megaphone at a street protest]: My…my name is Starr! And I’m the one who saw what happened to Khalil! I am the witness! But so are y’all! We are all witnesses to this injustice! We see it all! And we will not stop until the world sees it too! We will not stop protesting! Everyone wants to talk abot how Khalil died. This ain’t about how Khalil died. It’s about how he lived. Khalil lived! His life mattered!
…
Starr [voiceover]: No matter what we say…no matter how loud we shout…They refuse to hear us.
…
Starr [to a couple pf white cops]: How many of us have to die before y’all get it? No more.[/b]
For many though it will be just another rendition of Rodney King’s, “why can’t we all just get along?” And the ending just another idealistic wishing for the world to be a better place. And I]that[/I] comes to pass for a political narrative.