The book I chose to review is The Hate U Give written by Angie Thomas. This story follows Starr Carter, a sixteen year old black girl, who witnesses her black friend, Khalil, get shot and murdered by police. The Hate U Give is about her struggle with police brutality, activism and racism after this traumatic event. Khalil’s shooting is the first major example of injustice in the story as he was unarmed, defenseless and was causing no threat to the policeman who shot him so it’s obvious it was because of the color of his skin. Racial injustice continues to be shown throughout this novel as the government and media try to cover up Khalil’s death by portraying him as a drug dealer instead of trying to bring him justice. The jury ultimately ends up not charging the policeman, who was white, even after Starr testifies. This leads the Garden Heights community to try to peacefully protest, which ends up quickly turning violent, to show their frustration towards their criminal justice system failing them. I think that this story is the perfect example and depicts injustice towards black people and other minorities in today’s society very realistically. In this case I believe Starr, Khalil and other black people in the Garden Heights community are considered the “Other” because they are treated as lesser and constantly faced with racism. I also think identity plays a strong role in The Hate U Give. Starr struggles to balance her life at her mostly-white school, Williamson and her Garden Heights life. She is afraid that people at her school will think she is too “hood” and that people in Garden Heights will think that she thinks she is better than them. Starr feels that she cannot be herself and that she can not have both aspects of these identities in her life. Throughout the story Starr learns that she does not need to hide who she really is and that she can belong in both communities at the same time. Overall I think that The Hate U Give is a great story for this class because it represents many of the topics we have discussed in this class such as injustice and identity.