Tuesday, January 9, 2018

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

I live in two separate worlds.  No matter how hard I try to keep them apart, a collision is inevitable.  I have my world at my prep school, Williamson and then there's my other world in my hood, Garden Heights, South Central L.A.  I'm constantly suppressing who I am cuz these white folks wouldn't be able to handle it. If I ain't careful...Hell, if they ain't careful...they gonna get some of "Garden Heights" Starr.  I'm trying to stay true to me, but sometimes I feel like I'm losing me.  Chris, my white boyfriend that daddy don't know about, knows about Garden Heights, but he can't ever come up in my hood.  Ever!  I don't even hang with my old crew like I used to.  Kenya is always riding me about it, too. Ever since I watched my childhood friend, Natasha, die in a drive-by, mama and daddy wanted better for me, Seven and Sekani.  So they put us in Williamson.  What good is any of that if we still gotta go home to Garden Heights every day?  Don't get me wrong.  I love my hood!  I love the people in my hood.  Don't mean it's the best place for me and my brothers.

Then there's Khalil.  We've been friends since we were like three years old and don't think for one minute that he has ever let me forget that he's older than me (only by a few months).  So, Kenya's giving me flack about not hanging and wouldn't you know it.  The one time I do decide to, I run into Khalil.  See, it's been a minute since I've seen him.  I just got so caught up in my other life.  I run into him at this party in The Heights.  We just hanging and catching up when...POP..POP...POP!  Gun shots ring out and we hightail it out of there!  We escape only to be faced with another threat, a least a threat to a young Black boy in South Central.  If the gangs don't get you, the cops will.  I'm Starr Carter and I want justice for Khalil.

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