The Hate U Give is a film that follows the story of an African American girl named Starr Carter. Starr’s family resides in a predominantly African American neighborhood. However, Starr goes to school in a very wealthy and white neighborhood. Starr constantly juggles her life in the two very different places and struggles to find a balance between both.
The main incident of the film that drives the majority of the story occurs when Starr’s childhood friend, an African American male named Khalil, is driving them together in a car. Khalil is pulled over for no apparent reason and begins getting questioned by a white police officer. He is asked to step out of the car while the officer runs his license. When Khalil reaches into his car for his hairbrush, the officer shoots him in the chest. Starr runs out of the car to help her friend and is then handcuffed while she watches Khalil die. The rest of the film follows the aftermath of the incident for Starr as she struggles with her identity and fights for justice.
This film relates to Simone De Beuiviors’ othering theory. Her theory describes how different aspects of society like culture, politics, and economy are what create instances of inequality and lead to the “othering” of certain groups of people. This act against Khalil represents this theory as it shows how African Americans as a group are being completely “othered” by society. In this film, Khalil and Starr are the ones othered by the white police officer. They are treated differently because of their skin tone.
The officer assumes Khalil is dangerous and kills him for no reason at all. Khalil becomes a symbol for all African American people. Starr along with many others begin to fight this systemic injustice of how African Americans are treated by police officers. Starr also struggles with her identity as an African American. She attempts to embrace her identity as an African American person but struggles with how people will react to her in a school surrounded by white people. Overall, the treatment Khalil and Starr receive from the officer is an example of othering and is a clear systemic injustice as they are treated differently because of how they look.