Imagine seeing your best friend getting killed by a police officer in front of your eyes for no legal reason and doesn't get in trouble for it. The Hate U Give is a fictional book by Angie Thomas, about a boy named Khail and a girl named Starr, that is inspired by real life police brutality situations. Angie Thomas was interviewed by the Chicago Humanities Festival and explained why she decided to write a book about police brutality. Thomas stated that when she was a senior in college, Oscar Grant lost his life because a cop shot him and did not get in trouble for it(“Angie Thomas: The Hate U Give') She also stated that she was inspired to write a short story to explain why people were so mad at the police who shot Oscar Grant ('Angie Thomas: The Hate U Give'). Oscar Grant was a 22 year old African American man who got fatally shot by an officer and was unarmed, and sadly passed away leaving a 4 year old daughter behind in 2009 (Head). Angie Thomas stated that the hardest part of writing this book was the ending because it was in the same week that Philando Castile and Alton Sterling lost their lives ('Angie Thomas: The Hate U Give').
Philando Castile was fatally shot and killed by an officer Jeronimo Yanez who stated “that he had no choice” because he was scared that Castile was going to grab his gun and shoot him (Berman). That was not the case, Castile was pulling out his I.D to show the officer that his firearm is legal (Berman). Officer Yanez also stated that “I thought I was gonna die. And, I was scared because, I didn’t know if he was gonna, I didn’t know what he was gonna do” (Berman). So officer Yanez decided to open fire on Philando Castile because of the fact the he was reaching for something in his pocket. This explains why Angie Thomas decided to write a book about police brutality. Police brutality can show a horrible inhumanity and unkindness toward people. Philando Castile was an African American man who was shot, and killed by a police officer who had an assumption that Castile was going to shoot him because of the color of his skin (Berman). The officer who killed Philando Castile was sent to jail a year after he fatally shot to death (Berman). Even though Officer Yanez was imprisoned for his fault, his action still showed police brutality against race and made an awful assumption that ended up killing an innocent person.This is a connection to The Hate U Give because Khail was an African American who got shot while unarmed and so was Philando Castile due to the cause of police brutality.
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Furthermore, police brutality inspired Angie Thomas book The Hate U Give by the death of Trayvon Martin in September 2012. Trayvon Martin was an African American teenager who was killed because of his race. Volunteer neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman shot and killed unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin after a confrontation in February. Georage Zimmerman was suspicious of the teenager, because he was walking in the gated community and talking on the cellphone doing so ( “Racial Profiling”). People accused Zimmerman of targeting Trayvon Martin because of his race.“Trayvon Martin was an African American teenager who was serving an out-of-school suspension at the home of his father's fiance on February 26, 2012. Upon returning from a trip to a nearby convenience store, Martin was noticed by George Zimmerman, a volunteer neighborhood watchman. Driving in his car, the 28-year-old Zimmerman trailed Martin as he walked throughout the gated community, talking to his girlfriend on his cell phone”( “Racial Profiling”).Zimerman also stated that he called the police and told them that he believed that Martin was up to no good and was going to get out of his car and follow Martin on foot ( “RacialProfiling”). The dispatcher told Zimmerman that they did not need that to be done , however Zimmermen did not listen to the dispatcher and eventually confronted Martin( “Racial Profiling”). “At some point, a physical altercation between Martin and Zimmerman occurred, which ended when Zimmerman shot Martin in the chest, killing him” (“Racial Profiling”). Zimmerman claimed that Martin attacked him first, Martin’s family states no such attack has happened (“Racial Profiling”) . “A surveillance video of Zimmerman at the police station on the night of the shooting later showed he had no visible injuries or blood on his clothing, casting further doubt on Zimmerman's claim he had been attacked by Martin”( “Racial Profiling”). The Police found out that Martin was unarmed and intaily did not arrest Zimmerman, that did not last for long, because the police “bowed to public pressure” and arrested Zimmerman in April ( “Racial Profiling”). This is yet another example of police brutality and why Angie Thomas will be so annoyed and triggered enough to write a book about it.
To conclude, That is why Angie Thomas chose to write a book about police brutality to tell the people what’s going on and how it is being taken care off. Also, she is trying to raise awareness about police brutality toward racism, so in the future hopefully police brutality toward people with different races will decrease and the pain of losing a loved one for no legal reason. Police Brutality can show unfairness and cruelty to the people of different races because of the fact that lives are being lost and hearts are being broken. The Hate U Give was a way Angie Thomas was saying that police brutailty is wrong and needs to be immobile and stopped because it is simiply wrong.
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