Conversations about Black History Month usually mean talking about the past. Schools, articles, and news all repeatedly harp on dates, heroes, speeches, and stories โ then once February is over, so are the lessons. But what if Black History Month isn’t just history?
One present story that stands out is The Hate U Give. Written by Angie Thomas in 2017, the novel takes its title from Tupac’s “THUG LIFE.” This meant “The Hate U Give Little Infants F***s Everybody”. Tupac was referencing how injustice affects more than just a single person; it can hurt or shape entire systems or communities and can affect someone’s entire future. His message means just as much now as it did when he said “THUG LIFE” in the 90s.
Injustice isn’t history. It’s in the present, too.
The book is written about Starr Carter, a 16-year-old girl who tragically watches her childhood best friend, Khalil, shot and killed unjustly by police. In the weeks that follow, she is subject to media attention, public scrutiny, riots, protests, and so much else. Narratives are formed: gangs vs. police, one group vs. the other. Khalil became a national headline instead of the person he was.
Starr grows up in two completely different worlds: her neighborhood of Garden Heights and her private school, Williamson Prep. She acts as herself at home, and as “Starr 2.0” at school, separating her private and public life. As the reader, we go through this duality with her, something that isn’t talked about in Black History โ going through day-to-day life with the weight of existing in spaces that don’t fully understand you.
What makes The Hate U Give feel so important during Black History Month is that a reader doesn’t feel the distance that time creates. There is no difference between the world that children are growing up in now and the world Starr Carter grows up in. Angie Thomas purposefully writes to make the reader feel uncomfortable and succeeds.
Reading The Hate U Give forces us to sit with that uncomfortable feeling, instead of skimming through an assignment at school. We can’t just memorize moments like these for a test to forget in March. Someone has to think differently. Someone has to act differently.
The hate people give doesn’t just disappear when the calendar hits Feb. 28. Eventually, our present becomes history. What we choose to do, or not to do, is how our history will be remembered.