Gregory Gunn, Samuel DuBose, Brendon Glenn, Freddie Gray, Walter Scott, Michael Brown Jr., Eric Garner, Tamir Rice all unarmed victims who have died at the hands of a police officer. In The Hate U Give, it was a boy named Khalil. He died when a white police officer shot him during a traffic stop while he and Starr were driving away from a party that had been shot up by a gang.
In America, a black person is three times more likely to be killed by police than a white person. The officers are not being held accountable, in 2015, 99% of officers that have committed a crime have not been prosecuted. Police are 33% less likely to be convicted of a crime as opposed to a regular citizen, and the conviction rate for cops that commit murder is only 35% percent. In 2016, 169 unarmed civilians were killed by officers and only 16 faced charges. Even when a cop is charged with a crime, they are rarely convicted by the judge and jury.
A survey taken in September of 2016 showed that 81 percent of white people have confidence in their local police department, 75 percent believe officers use the appropriate amount of force, and another 75 percent believe all races and ethnicities are treated equally. An Associated Press-University poll found that a majority of white people believe the justice system treats black people fairly and cops too harshly. The people that took place in these surveys, they are the people on the juries, the judges, lawyers, prosecutors who fail the justice system, believe cops are good-hearted, unbiased, and don’t care about the color of people’s skin (The Root)
In The Hate U Give, it gives the ugly reality of living as a minority in America and how the way of life across America is very difficult. Values of Americans differ greatly from groups of people. The Hate U Give addresses many of the major differences culturally, physically, and mentally that black people go through.
Works Cited
Harriot, Michael. “White Men Can’t Murder: Why White Cops Are Immune to the Law.” The Root, Www.theroot.com, 22 June 2017,
www.theroot.com/white-men-cant-murder-why-white-cops-are-immune-to-the-1796309966.
Morrison, Aaron. “14 Recent Police Brutality Cases That Show How Often Officers Aren’t Held
Accountable.” Mic. Mic Network Inc., 15 Sept. 2017. Web.
“Police Have Killed 964 People in the U.S. This Year.” Mapping Police Violence. N.p., n.d. Web.
Susman, Daniel Funke and Tina. “From Ferguson to Baton Rouge: Deaths of Black Men and
Women at the Hands of Police.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 12 July 2016,
www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-police-deaths-20160707-snap-htmlstory.html#2016.
Thomas, Angie. The Hate U Give. N.p.: Walker, 2017. Print.
The book The Hate U Give is one of the best books I’ve ever read. I really recommend it.
This is an awsmoe book I love it but the move was little better
i like the book i would recommend
i loved this book and watch the movie. 10/10 and highly reccomened
Same here. (>^-^)>
It was a good book but I wasn’t able to go past chapter 15 but I got to see the movie and the was some parts that made me think, Why?
I enjoyed reading your piece on ‘The Hate U Give’. The facts you give make the reader understand that you are not only writing from “hear-say” or opinions. I believe different readers would really like and understand your synopsis of this book.
This is a good respond of the book thank you for showing the back round of the story
who did you come you with use ideas
I haven’t read the book yet but I’m looking forward to it since everyone that I’ve talked to about it has had a strong positive reaction even though the topic of violence against young black men is very traumatic and horrible. We are reading the book in my book club so I hope that my students will read your posting and comment on it, too. I appreciate reading the statistics since the numbers speak volumes about the reality of our current situation of how the police treat people of color in our country. Only 1 adult told me it was too difficult to read so she had to take a break. Do you have any suggestions about what we can do? We are so involved at this moment with looking at how to deal with guns which relates to the racist criminal justice system but I also want to figure out how to make this discussion of Black Lives Matter more central than it is already.
Hi Karen, I agree it was quite a difficult book to read. I read it over a span of about four days, which may not be the best for everybody but that’s how I like to read most books. It is very heavy and a lot to take in in such a short amount of time. After I read it I thought about it a lot and was a bit hung up on it. It might be best to take it in small doses and talk about it along the way to not be overwhelmed.
I appreciate your comment and interest on educating yourself on such and important issue,
Lillian
this book reminds me of some game
the paragraph is good but the life its unfair
As a young adult in Philadelphia I have heard a ton of “fireworks” in the middle of the day. I am human who doesn’t see skin color. All my friends /family are just as they are. I do not care nor do I see a reason to acknowledge your skin color. Cops train, go to school and get a great job just to kill a citizen. Is it okay knowing they almost never get consequences. Maybe cause they were just doing their job a bit more extremely. “The hate you give” portrays the vision of the minorities. I think that is perfect considering if it was from the view of Hailey i’d definitely be uninterested.
Ethan,
I feel that the belief that you don’t see skin color is a bit damaging ideology because it erases the racist discrimination and hardships people of color have gone through. It is also basically saying that you just don’t view people as their stereotype. Its also a bit inaccurate and unfair to say that the only reason a police officer joins the police force to kill citizens of where they work; and the officer isn’t doing their job more extremely, they are failing to properly de-escalate a situation, or acting off their racial stereotypes. But I agree, the book in Hailey’s view would be irrelevant and completely defeat the purpose of the book.
im glad that they told everything that happen but this part ( Police are 33% less likely to be convicted of a crime as opposed to a regular citizen) really stood out to me because that little bit of percent of cops get away with killing people
Hi Quenshawn, that stat is just how likely police officers are to not be convicted of a crime, not how much they get away with injuring or killing somebody. It could have been the way I phrased it that could have caused a misunderstanding.
i really like the book because it talks about things that really goes on in life . Thats also about police officers some really have something against us blacks and some really don’t care if we are black or white they treat us the same .
I Like She Explain The Young Boy To African American And Gave Him A Description about the boy and how he wrote his example of the book and what was he doing in the book
I enjoyed the fact that she gave real statics and she understands the struggle that black people go through. How can we feel safe in our community if the cops are legally armed and cant even call them for help because we feel as if their against us.
*statistics
i like the fact that you posted this. i found the statistics to be very informing.
i liked the way you talked about the police officer its kinda like similiar to whats happening in the hate u give .
I like how It tell us how that the police officer were not held accountable in 2015 , What happened to kahlil that really why I understand & like the book .
Lillian,
I enjoyed reading your piece on The Hate U Give.The comment you gave on “The Hate U Give” shows how the book and today’s life really are similar to each other. I really like the book “THE HATE U GIVE” and ready to continue the book.
i think the hate you give is strong book and talks about the streets and also like the book because it is a real book that talks about the true of the streets and what has been going on wit cops killing people for no reason.
Lillian,i like how you really sat there and took your time and talked about the truth, and i like your statistics that you added. and another reason why i like this because now days people don’t talk about the things you just said.
Thank you for posting this because this tides back too black lives matter and its explains so much more you take in then hope i get to complete the book some day
police suck
Lillian, I like that you included some of the victims and statistics to pull this piece together to backup your statements.
I’m so glad that you posted this because it’s important to talk about these things that people just want to ignore and people should know what’s happening but i think they stay having racism till this day.
lillan the hate u give is a very good book and i really enjoyed this piece of it
Lillian, I really respected the fact that you lead your voice to be loudly yet calmly heard. Most others antagonize this situation but you just explained and were heard. I completely 100% agree with this as well.
After reading the book and this article I think they diverse they show all slide of the story. They show you the after math of what happens when someone black is killed by police. This book is something that little black boys and girls should read to show them there are more people out there like them that goes thought these challenges
Lillian,
I enjoyed reading your piece on The Hate U Give.The comment you gave on “The Hate U Give” shows how the book and today’s life really are similar to each other. And the book also is similar to a new tv show called “The Chi”. They both are two real good story’s.
I really love this novel because Star really describes me .
Lillian, I really like the statistics you added to the paper. They add support to the article but I would like to know where you got them. I am so interested in this book and hopefully can find time to read it.
lillian,
I am very happy you had statistics, it shows you really want people to take you seriously, and it is really upsetting how the justice system is in this country
Lillian,
i absolutely agree with what you wrote there are too many innocent black victims that get killed and their killers get to walk away free with no conviction or any type of punishment the family of these victims never get justice for their loved ones. when the roles are reversed and a white person gets killed they immdiately go to a black person .
in some cases black people are wrongfully convicted of crimes they didn’t do. the white youth today has to realize being black isn’t cool and it’s a constant struggle to be treated fairly.
lillian,
Thanks for sharing your contribution and perspectives. My students at the U School, have read Angie’s Thomas poignant story. I am hoping they will share some of equally compelling reflections from their reading and making sense of this Black Live Matters meets Inner City Blues saga. Keep writing!
I’m so glad that you posted this because it’s important to talk about these things that people just want to ignore and I like that you included data to go along with everything that you were saying.
Lillian, I really like the statistics you added to the paper. They add support to the article but I would like to know where you got them. I am so interested in this book and hopefully can find time to read it.
Thank you Heather, I do agree I am still working on improving my in-text citations; that will be one of the edits I make. I definitely recommend the book. The movie is also coming out soon so if you don’t read the book you should see it in theaters.
Lillian, I enjoyed reading your piece on The Hate U Give, I have not read the book and I am now interested in reading after reading your article. I do have a few questions for you, you wrote “The officers are not being held accountable, in 2015, 99% of officers have not been convicted of a crime.” Where did you get this information from you need in text citations to backup your data? If it is indeed true, wouldn’t this be something we would want in our police officers? I know I personally would not want a convicted felon acting as a police officer where I live. Continuing on, you write “Police are 33% less likely to be convicted of a crime as opposed to a regular citizen.” Wouldn’t this make sense because police officers supposed to be upstanding citizens and if they accused of a crime wouldn’t the odds of them being convicted would be less?
The last thing I saw that confused me was “the conviction rate for cops that commit murder is only 35% percent.” I think you need to change your word choice of murder. If a cop takes a life in self defense that is not murder, that is self defense. Also, police officers, as people who work in a job that require self defense in certain situations it would make sense that the percentage of police officers who have taken someone’s life and put on trial would be quite a bit higher than the average citizen. Overall, I enjoyed your piece!