Editorial Reviews. From School Library Journal. Gr 9 Up—Starr has learned to adapt her. Amazon.com: The Hate U Give eBook: Angie Thomas: Kindle Store. Germany: CBT France: Nathan Spanish Language: Oceano Sweden: Natur & Kultur Finland: Otava Norway: Gyldendal Norsk Denmark: Gyldendal.
The car is silent as Seven drives to his grandmother’s house. Starr can’t understand what went wrong, or why Khalil didn’t matter enough for his death to be considered a crime.
Kids around them start chanting “Justice for Khalil.” Seven slams the steering wheel in frustration and asks Starr if she wants to “burn shit up.” Starr says she wants to protest and riot. Chris says that won’t solve anything, but Starr snaps back that talking didn’t either; if the world doesn’t care about her, then she doesn’t care about the world. Chris does not understand the anger Starr feels in this moment. Starr feels like she has done everything right, and it still didn’t matter. Rejecting Lisa’s earlier advice to keeping “doing right” in such situations, Starr now wants to treat the world the way it has treated her. This scene also provides some context for readers who might see riots happening on TV and not understand the anger or frustration behind them—those like Chris, who have the privilege of remaining disconnected from racial injustice and so feel like they can easily judge what will and won’t “solve anything.”. Chris feels out of place in the crowd, and realizes this must be how Starr and Seven feel at Williamson.
They climb atop a bus for a better view, and see King Lords and Garden Disciples protesting together on top of a police car. The crowd grows more violent, with people screaming to flip the police car and smashing its windows. Starr recognizes that her anger over the verdict is shared by her community. Someone starts playing NWA’s “Fuck tha Police” and Starr shouts along with it; despite her love for Carlos, she has realized this is not about good cops like him. A line of police officers in riot gear arrive, telling protestors to get off the streets because this is “not a peaceful assembly.” People start throwing rocks and bottles at the cops. Someone throws a Molotov cocktail, and the group runs back to Seven’s car to drive away from the riots.
While in the car, DeVante defends the rioters by saying peaceful protests haven’t worked, and echoing Starr’s words that because the world doesn’t care about them, they shouldn’t care about the world. Starr fears what will happen if the rioters reach the store. DeVante is impressed that Chris knew NWA lyrics. The atmosphere in the car lightens as they try to “test” Chris to see if he’s black by asking him about certain elements of black culture. The group make lighthearted fun of stereotypical things white people do, but the mood becomes slightly tense when Chris asks why black people have “odd names.” Seven points out that Chris is judging things from a “white standard,” that many of these names are common in black communities, and that white people give their children strange names as well. Suddenly gunshots go off nearby, frightening everyone in the car.