If you haven’t already heard about the book or the movie The Hate U Give, it’s about a teenage African-American girl named Starr Carter. She lives in a poor, mostly black, neighborhood but goes to a prestigious school in another city that is filled with mostly white kids. She has to balance between both worlds and sets of friends also.

Starr ends up in a situation with her childhood best friend that is a lot like what has been happening lately in America: police brutality. Starr’s friend Khalil was stopped by a cop and he reached into his car to grab his hair brush. When the white cop saw him reach for something he shot him because he thought he had a gun.

Starr witnessed everything, and it ended up traumatizing her. Since she was the only witness, she had to stand up for Khalil and tell the truth about what really happened. However, by doing that, she knew it would cause more problems for her family due to the fact that Khalil was involved in things that would harm other people.

If you’re a supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement, this book is for you. If you’re not really interested in this topic, or feel like this matter hasn’t affected you, then this may not be the movie or book for you. If you watch movies to understand the characters, then this movie and or book may reel you in and maybe even make you want to know what happens next. The story is very true to to the experience of black Americans today, and the plot has life lessons that are useful to many people – not only black Americans.