Take a minute
Last night I finished reading the book The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. First off, it was a really good read. This book is important for every white, middle class American to read. Secondly a common theme stuck out to me throughout the book. Without giving too much away, this book follows the perspective of a teenage African American girl living two very different lives. She attends a private school in the suburbs but lives about 45 minutes away in the projects. She struggles to find balance in both worlds. After she witnesses a childhood friend being murdered by a cop she fights to find justice for his life. In the process she see's the injustices first hand in conversation with some of her closest friends, on the news and in the law. One infuriating theme throughout the book was people questioning if the boy killed was a drug dealer. The news would report on his death and lead with "a drug dealer killed by cop." Or you would hear this girl's friends at school ta...