The Hate U Give

The main theme of the book is the issue of systemic racism in America. Starr and her family experience racism in a variety of ways throughout the story. For example, Hailey makes a remark about fried chicken to Starr. Most overtly, of course, is the fact that Khalil is racially profiled by a police officer who shoots him on the assumption that he was going for a gun.

Despite the fact that Khalil was innocent and there was no reason for him to have been pulled over in the first place, the police and the White community immediately assume that he was in the wrong and Officer 115 was right. It takes ten weeks for a decision to even be made about whether the officer should be indicted, a frustratingly long time. Even then, the jury decides not to punish Officer 115 or even indicate in any way that his actions were wrong. This kind of decision is painfully true to life and highlights the deeply discriminatory justice systems in America. This kind of decision sends a message that Black lives matter less to the people in charge than White lives.

Less overtly, Starr struggles with the repercussions of systemic racism in her everyday life.