Rezension

“never stop doing right“

The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas

The Hate U Give
von Angie Thomas

Bewertet mit 5 Sternen

Must-read book – and I am German, white, grown-up, recommending you a YA novel heavily in with the US-centred “Black Lives Matters“ movement, issues we rather hear about on TV whenever there is a major riot or shooting.

Why? The book is great, it gets you BOTH, to understand better and to think about matters. Matters? Racism, society, friendship, family, loyalty, fear, bravery´,... Well, as I said, I am a white German - the situation IS obviously different. Germany does not have that black history, does limitate the possession of weapons, has education mostly for free.

Racism in general tends to show up its ugly face in about every place in the world, let’s say “different variations same sh**“. Germany may not have areas like “Garden Heights“ – but some of the municipal areas have developed “no-go“ areas and quarters with mostly ethnical settlement, here, too, often combined with unemploymency and poverty – although not "black", anyway – being stigmatized for where you live is the same – and no good either. So no book on “them“ – way to close to “us“.

So, yes, the situation IS different, and you learn more about racism specifically in its US-version. Still, there are those other matters. Society, friendship, family, loyalty, fear, bravery. Confront that with “your local brand“ of racism and you will easily get why I got hooked – and you will probably more easily re-position the story to your own place. Down to core, Starr is just a teenage girl – with a boy friend, siblings, loving parents, girls she hangs around with, hobbies, school. She’s not cool in her “hood“ – she is cool with the white kids for being one of the few black kids at a mostly white “better“ school. She witnesses what no kid should see – death. Violently. Of someone close. Khalil who gets shot by a cop.

And here comes what I found great about author Angie Thomas‘ writing: she makes you stand in other persons‘ shoes. I admit I DID take sides – and shift and shift and shift. I did feel like “hey, why did Khalil have to ask Starr whether she felt safe rather than not move when the cop told him“ or “why did he have to get involved with drug dealers“. I DID put the blame on the victim! He did not: shoot at the officer – and was shot in the back. He did not threaten the officer – and was shot in the back three times. He did not have a gun on him. He was not out dealing or stopped for dealing – just stopped for driving. Reconsider. Same on – how often do we all laugh at stupid snide remarks – for someone being too old, too big, too…whatever. Only kidding? No harm meant?

“ That’s the problem. We let people say stuff, and they say it so much that it becomes okay to them and normal for us. What’s the point of having a voice if you’re gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn’t be?“

„Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.“ p 154

See for yourself. The book is a great captivating read. It most automatically will make you discuss about it. I do sincerely hope many students will read it in school. For the German mother tongue? Mostly, the language is easy to understand, despite of some portion of slang – Starr is slang at home and rather does not want to be associated with slang at school. So prepare for just some few words to look up, not many, like “dope“ for cool. You’ll be up to date ;-)
Serious 6 stars out of 5 – and fun, anger, sympathy, understanding, shock, laughter,…