The Hate U Give (Fourth Post--Finish the Book)
Please comment on this post by 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 24th.
Starr pledges to "never be quiet" (Chapter 26, p. 444). After reading this book, how can you use your voice to promote and advance social justice? Reflect on how you and your community discuss and address inequality. Please make sure that your comment is at least 200 words.
(Questions issued by publishers.)
Throughout the book, Starr struggles with when she should speak up, and when she should keep things to herself. After her friend, Khalil, died, Starr doesn’t want anyone to know she was involved. But after others told her to tell her story, Starr has a sudden urge to not only tell what happened, but make a change in her town, in the society. Starr had a huge moment in her life that she could act upon. She could take this terrible experience and use it to create a sort of movement. Fortually, I haven’t had an experience like her’s, and honestly haven’t thought about leading a march, or creating a program. However, there are other small things that I have done to advance social justice in just our community and will continue to do similar things. For instance, there have been a few incidents when derogatory words directed towards a certain race or someone with a certain sexual identity have been used. In these situations, I am proud to say that I stepped in and expressed how I felt about that person using these words. It really does hurt when someone says something so negative and I feel like I can’t just let it be. Because I am only confronting one individual, It can feel like nothing is happening. But I do feel like some sort of change is being created. Other things I have done are not just in response to social injustice, but rather promoting social justice before injustice occurs. For instance, I was a part of the LGBTQ+ club at our school last year. Even though it didn’t continue this year, I like to think that for the years it ran, it made a small difference. This is just one club that runs in our community to support people. I think it is really important to see how all these small pieces can lead to something bigger. And I feel that because our school and town has some of these small pieces, people here do see that it can help. There are many things a person can do that can make a whole group aware of what’s happening, such as leading a march. But if there was nobody participating in those marches, no statement would be made. So personally, I feel that even something that may seem so small such has being a participant in a three hour march, truly does advance social justice.
ReplyDeleteVery nice. Good for you for speaking up!
DeleteThrough the whole book, Starr has been battling whether or not to tell people about her life in Garden Heights. She has kept many big events in her life a secret. Starr eventually starts to tell some people, and that makes her feel much better. After she has seen what her voice can do, she solemnly promises to never be quiet. I completely agree with Starr’s decision. No social injustices are ever going to get resolved in our world if we don’t speak out. And that's why last year after the school shooting in Parkland, I went with a bunch of my friends to march in Montpelier for stricter gun laws. There had been many very deadly shootings, and that worried me. So I decided to use my voice to speak out to try prevent another one. Around that same time, many of my classmates, including me, participated in a walkout at school. It was nice to see so many people in my school community so accepting of the people who chose to walk out, but also the fact that those of us who walked out were accepting of the people who didn't. It reminded me of what a supportive and respectful community I live in.
ReplyDeleteI like what you said about living in a supportive and respectful community. I agree.
DeleteIn The Hate U Give it talks about inequality and how it can affect people. Starr felt like she couldn't be herself because she wanted to be "normal". You shouldn't have to change who you are just so you can fit in with the society you live in. I think we can help people that feel this way by making them feel comfortable. I talked a lot about this in my personal essay, and how you can't be yourself when you're not comfortable. If everyone wasn't trying try to fit in, their would be a lot less judgement in the world. I think most people deal with inequality by pretending it's not a thing. The people that don't speak out and act like there's nothings wrong. I think everyone does this sometimes including me. Starr slowly started to realize that she needed to speak out, especially when Kenya yelled at her for not talking about Khalil's death. Starr overcame her fear of getting judged and decided to not care what people thought. She wanted to get the truth out, because she felt like people deserved to know what happened. People could disagree with me, but this book showed me that protesting doesn't help. Just like Tupac said "The Hate You Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody". I do think getting your message out there is important, but causing destruction and screaming at police doesn't help. I guess spreading awareness of the problem in a respectful way is the best way to do it. That way you're are still taking action, but not harming anyone. I think this book is important to read because we don't hear about this often enough in Vermont.
ReplyDeleteGood point about not seeing this enough in Vermont.
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ReplyDeleteThroughout the book, Starr has been struggling with when she should speak up and/or tell people about her life in garden heights. After Khalil died, Starr didn’t want anyone to know she was the witness in the car. Also Starr never told anyone at Williamson, including her boyfriend, about her life in the projects and in Garden Heights. She kept all things things shut up in herself and she tried to keep them quiet. However soon people start telling the story about Khalil. Starr soon has the urge to open up and speak out. She also opens up to Chris about her life in Garden Heights. Starr realizes her voice is a weapon. It is a very powerful weapon she can use to speak out against police violence towards African Americans.
ReplyDeleteVoices are powerful things. They can be used to speak out against social injustices and bring awareness to social justice issues. These issues don’t go away if we do nothing about them that is why I try to use my voice to speak out against them. That is why, a year ago today, I went to Montpelier, Vermont (the capitol) to speak out against gun violence at the March For Our Lives. The March was to remember the students who had gotten shot in Parkland, Florida in the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. It was also to protest our loose gun laws and to ask for stricter ones. So many people came to this march. It was really amazing to see our community come together like this. It was really awesome to see my community come together and push social change for the better.
Good for you for getting involved, Mack.
DeleteMany people would say that they have a voice and they can use it. Many people would say everyone has a voice. Personally, I don't think this is true. I don't think that I have a voice and I don't think I can do anything about social justice. I feel like people with more following, both online and in real life, have more voice and influence. I have neither of those things so there isn't much I believe I can do. I think that people that are influenced by others are the people with less of a voice. Someone famous like Oprah Winfrey, for example, could do a lot for social justice. She has a large following and many people do what she says. She has a voice. I think people like to think they have a voice, but they actually don’t. In our community of Thetford we talk a lot about equality and inequality. Kids are taught A LOT about being equal, and they learn from that. Churches and other similar gatherings talk a lot about inequality. There is another place there is a lot of talk about inequality. That place is online. Though the internet has its downsides, it also teaches many people about inequality.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your comment, Danny. I think you can do more than you think. Oprah didn't always have a big following...
DeleteFrom Sophie:
ReplyDeleteIn the book The Hate U Give Khalil is shot and killed by a cop right in front of Starr. Khalil was not breaking the law in any way, the cop had no reason to shoot him. After pleading her case of his innocence to a judge, the cop is not found guilty. Before going and speaking to the judge Starr was afraid of people finding out she was with Khalil. She didn't want people to know because she was afraid as being seen as the “girl from the ghetto” at school. Her boyfriend, Chris figures out that she was with Khalil and talks to her about it. In the end of the book Starr and her friends are at riots for Khalil, She ends up on top of a police car, chanting into a bull horn “Khalil lived” (412) this was Starrs way of using her voice to tell people more about what happened to Khalil. She was using her voice and speaking about what happened. She was telling people, protesting. A way that I could and I do use my voice to promote social justice is going to marches, the marches aren't necessarily about strictly social justice. Some are about gun laws and women's rights.
I'm glad you are thinking about marches and what you can do there.
DeleteIn the The Hate You Give, Starr has struggled with the decision to speak up for Khalil. She starts out small, by telling a few people. In the end, she speaks up, and pledges to "never be quiet." This is really powerful because Starr has finally realized what speaking up can do. It's extremely important that we speak up for social injustices. If there is no one to speak up, nothing will change. That's why there shouldn't be one person to speak up, it should be all of us. We all have the power to speak up, whether we realize it or not. For starters, we have vocal cords, and we should use them to do good, like Starr did, like many activists like Martin Luther King Jr did. In school we are taught about equality, and online I bet most of us see a lot about equality, and why it is important. Finding your voice shouldn't be hard. Maybe at first it is hard, because like Starr's situation, talking about her best friends death is hard for her. But once you realize that speaking up can solve the problem, it becomes easier for you to speak up. If you really care about a certain cause, speaking up for it should be a piece of cake.
ReplyDeleteGood comment, Liam. What specifically do you think you can do?
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ReplyDeleteAfter reading The Hate You Give, I don’t think I’ll be throwing a canister of tear gas at a group of cops anytime soon. That scene in the book was a riot rather than a protest. All people have the right to be able to advocate and express their views on a certain situation. Protests should be done safely and with no forms of violence. All social justice issues are imposed by the state, but in every community we should speak up for what we believe in and for what is right. As we see in the book, Starr and her community speak up for what they think is right. The decision the jury makes is not what Starr’s community wanted and as a result they riot. Even though the decision the jury made was not what they wanted, they still spoke up for what they believed in and that is what I think is most important. When faced with any sort of inequality or issue, it is important to stand up for what you think is right and for what you believe in. That is how we promote and address certain issues even is it gets nothing done. I don’t promote social justice on a daily basis but I do speak up for what I believe in when I get a chance. Speaking up could be as simple as asking a question or stating a fact. I do find it difficult to share my views on society because they are usually very dissenting to other peoples views in my household and community. But I will always speak up for what I think is right despite my differences. After reading this book I have learned a lot about many different topics, and societal issues.
I enjoyed your comment Elliott. So you approve of her speaking up, just not how they did it, right?
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