The Hate U Give Reveals The Discrimination

The Hate U Give reveals the nature of individual and institutional discrimination in areas of poverty such as black communities being deprived of the opportunities and resources needed to achieve, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy for the suceeding generations of black communities. This loophole many of “The Hate U Give” black characters are placed in an environment where they cannot escape poverty without relying on illegitimate opportunity, which belittles black people in forms of stereotypes. The labeling theory explains how labels of certain people or groups of people change their perception of themselves, leading to a change of behavior to the standard of that label. Due to the burdens created by poverty, Maverick, Starr’s dad himself became part of a gang. Maverick explains to Starr during their conversation about Tupac’s phrase “Thug Life”; The hate you give little infants fucks everyone. They spoke about how society’s system was made to work against black people. There were no proper institutions nearby, no proper jobs available just low-paying jobs that won’t get you anywhere. Drug dealing is a multi-billion dollar industry and it becomes a trap that people fall into. As a result, even if people like Maverick wanted to find a good job he is labeled as a criminal by society, as he has a criminal record. It would be very hard for him to even find any decent job opportunities. We see how social mobility in an intergenerational cycle is difficult to obtain because low income communities, like Garden Heights, do not have adequate access to resources such as proper education and employment.

Into the lives of Starr and her family, growing up in Garden Heights, a predominantly black neighborhood, she tries to balance the life in the ghetto and the life at Williamson, a predominantly white high school. As a result, she asslimates; switching her behavior and attitude to fit in at Williamson. Certain behaviors and attitudes for her is considered “hood” while when other people at William who do those certain behaviors and attitudes are considered “cool.” Her friends at Williamson, Hailey, Maya, and her boyfriend, Chris, cannot seem to grasp the cruel reality she lives in Garden Heights. Starr feels conflicted to talk about Khalil’s death but ultimately decides to stand up for Khalil, especially after the students at Williamson decide to skip school to protest for the death of Khalil.

From a theoretical standpoint as Khalil was a victim of scapegoat theory in which his death became a means of aggression and blame towards him and black people in poverty. When Khalil died it was noted that police officer badge One-Fifteen killed him for holding a “gun” but in reality it was a brush. A lot of people saw that as an act of police brutality. From a conflict theorist perspective we see that the dominant group uses prejudice views on a minority group perceived as a threat (Griffiths et al. 231). The power elite, people at the top are able to control the rules of society which becomes in favor of the privileged are able to decide what is criminal and what is not. News coverage only cared about Khalil’s King Lord gang affiliation and drug dealing, favoring stereotypes of black people as malignant. Comparing that to the the news sources covering police officer One-Fifteen shows a certain bias towards white privilege protecting law enforcement by portraying the event as an accident and showing the police officer’s dad on TV stating how he believes that his son is not a monster and how their lives were threatened, trying to gain sympathy from the viewers, it becomes justified. We find out that the police officer was not indicted for charges in the grand jury and was only placed on administrative leave.

From a symbolic interactionist perspective we look at Starr’s friend Hailey. As stated by Griffiths et al., “… racial prejudice is formed through interactions between members of the dominant group … These interactions contribute to an abstract picture of the subordinate group that allows the dominant group to support its view of the subordinate group…” (231). More than likely in-group interaction about a subordinate group can lead to unrealistic views of a group leading to prejudice. Hailey for example confessed that not all black people are the same and that Starr is different by the fact that she is the “non-threatening black girl.” If it weren’t for Starr to assimilate into the white dominant culture, Hailey most likely would have viewed her as a different person, a threatening person. Hailey has come to the conclusion that the majority of black people are dangerous, but she makes an exception for Starr. We can also see that Hailey proclaimed that Khalil was nothing more than a drug dealer and a dangerous person. She only cared about the after-the-fact notion of drug dealing and not why people are inclined to do what they do. Khalil said that his “McJob” wasn’t working out and he needed something else that would help him, which was drug dealing. Khalil’s mother was an addict, his grandmother had cancer and was fired from her job, and he needed to support his little brother. We could say that Khalil should have continued to go to school to further educate himself, in hopes to get a better job in the years to come but he was only sixteen; a kid who isn’t even an adult who has to face life as an adult. The pressure to provide for the family knowing that there is no other alternative.

We see how in a functionalist theorist perspective we can see how Starr’s uncle asslimates and conforms to the white dominant culture against the black stereotype; he becomes part of an in-group solidarity in which he believes that white people are not dangerous and an out-group antagonism that black people are dangerous. Starr’s uncle explains the logic behind a police’s mind during a traffic stop routine using Starr’s example: An upper-class white person reaching into the windows and Starr’s uncle thought it was a gun would he tell him to put his hands up or shoot him? We are able to see that because in this hypothetical situation Starr’s uncle decides to tell the white person to put their hands up rather than the ladder which is to shoot them. We can infer from the attitude and the way Starr’s uncle said this answer answer this that if it were a black person, the result would most likely be the ladder, not the former. Rather than treating everyone equally, this scene justifies an unequal society or in Starr’s uncle's words, “We live in a complicated world, Starr.”