by Jamaya Shelton

The first time I watched The Hate U Give, I was with my parents. We had all gone in with varying degrees of knowledge surrounding the movie but we all knew one thing: that it was going to hit close to home. Thankfully, we had not- at least to my knowledge, known anybody who had found themselves in a situation of police violence. Of course, being your typical black family: we have known racism and prejudice and have understood how to be conscious of ourselves; specifically where our hands are and if everybody around us is comfortable. When we got to the scene where Starr’s friend, Khalil, was murdered, there was a change in the air. . . Read the whole essay here.

for Even-Nur LANG120