“You can destroy wood and brick, but you can’t destroy a movement,” Angie Thomas, The Hate You Give.

The Hate You Give is a young adult novel by Angie Thomas, brought to life. It follows the events of the life of an African American 16-year-old girl, Starr Carter. Starr moves between two different worlds: she lives in Garden Heights, a low-income urban neighborhood, and attends Williamson Prep, an affluent school. Her worlds came crashing down when she witnessed a police shooting of her childhood friend, Khalil. Starr is deeply influenced into activism as she had first-hand experience of the fatal crime against her innocent friend, which motivates her to embark on the path to fight for her friend’s justice and ultimately the justice of her people.

If there was one word to describe The Hate You Give, it would be powerful. The movie gave me chills as I watched Starr’s experience  prior, during, & after her involvement with her friend’s shooting unfold. It was thought-provoking in a sense that it would make me compare my life with hers; the “big talk” from my parents was far from hers because her “big talk” consisted of her dad laying out their rights, and what to do when a cop would make you pull over. The Hate You Give depicted many themes, but the ones that spoke the loudest were the profound support from family, inner voice, & the cause & effect of the hate you give or receive.

Sarah Mendoza read the book and watched the movie as well. She quotes, “The story was, overall, very moving especially with how much the plot can relate to the reality of today. Starr Carter is an inspiring character to girls when it came to using her voice. The movie depicted the book really well, and watching The Hate You Give come to life triggered many emotions.”

The Hate You Give is rated 4 out of 5 stars. It has 96% rotten tomatoes. The movie earned $7.5 million dollars in its wide release debut weekend.