Racism Incites Police Brutality

by Diwakar Basak

Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give revolves around the central theme of racial inequality and what one did to address that theme in her neighborhood. The main character is Starr Carter, a black teenager, who lives in a racially and economically segregated neighborhood in the Southern United States. She has to swap between her two lives: one in the poor, black suburbs, the other in the wealthy, primarily white school which she attends. Starr feels conflicted between her two lives, and this conflict prevents Starr from speaking up when white cops unjustly kill her black friend, Khalil in her neighborhood. One of the cops shot Khalil, assuming that he was part of a gang they were trying to arrest, when the young teenager pulled out what he thought to be a pistol. The police hide any evidence of the manner of Khalil’s death from the public. Afterwards, they call an ambulance and leave the scene. Only Starr, who was with Khalil at the time of death, knows what unfolded. She cannot bear Khalil’s death in the weeks after facing grief, sadness, anger, and hate. Starr feels afraid of speaking out because she thinks she has failed to live up to Maverick’s belief in black power. However, she eventually comes out of her shell when she realizes she must speak up in order to save the community she is part of and herself. Starr’s actions in The Hate U Give mirror the actions that the Black Lives Matter organization took to advocate for non-violent civil disobedience in protest against incidents of police brutality and all racially motivated violence against black people.

To analyze the story, we attempt to answer a few questions relating to the plot. The first question is why the police did not want to reveal to the public the manner of Khalil’s death. The answer is that the police were fearful of how the public, especially African Americans and other black activists, would react to the fact that one of their police had shot and killed a black teenager, unjustly. In the past and modern day, we see examples of civil unrest all over the globe in the form of riots breaking out whenever an abuse of power occurs. An abuse of power occurs when a civil government misuses their power. In The Hate U Give, the police abuse their power in two ways: first, they kill Khalil unjustly, second, they throw tear gas into the peaceful crowd of protesters, who are chanting Khalil’s name. Both of these are examples of police brutality, a fairly common, yet serious issue in modern day United States. Statistics show that police brutality affects minorities, people of color, at much higher rates than the white majority. Many believe that the reason for this is the discrimination that minorities face on account of white supremacy, the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and therefore should be dominant over them. It is an issue that plagues us in modern-day society. Because of it, black people are “dehumanized” and are the target of excessive violence by cops. A recent account of this is the Ferguson police shooting where the cops fatally shot a black man named Michael Brown. ​

If racism has damaging, lasting consequences, (can result in the unjust death of a marginalized demographic) people of color will fear the police more and will more likely flee/resist in a police confrontation. This will likely lead to more deaths as abuse of power will deem violence necessary to ease the situation, leading to a proliferation of the problem. Although one might argue that public safety tries to promote utilitarianism and is trained to handle violent situations, the abuse of power by representatives of public safety in our society remains unchecked and excused by the illusion of promoting additional training. In The Hate U Give, when the cop killed Khalil, his intentions may have been good - to promote the safety and well-being of the public - but his racist beliefs (moral judgement) may have clouded the way for reason and truth. The problem now that needs to be addressed is what must be changed. Is it how these cops are trained to handle situations like this? Or is it the underlying racist beliefs of cops? In the training regiment of cops, they have been trained to react appropriately in situations of danger. But for what cause? Do they let their personal beliefs/fears get in the way of logic and reasoning? This is obviously expected by any human being when confronted in fear, but that instinct can be trained and developed. For example, in the military, soldiers go through VR sessions in which they undergo battle scenes to reduce their fear instinct to prepare them for real battles, so that they are resistant to PTSD. 
The second issue we need to focus on is how we can eliminate racism from affecting a cop’s mindset. To do that, we need to find a way to eliminate racist remarks from our conversations. We need public protest if we want to focus on responding to events of injustice. Public protest is necessary because it is an outlet for a fraction of the public to voice their fears and opinions, which thereby allows the issue to be transformed into a larger one, one that the larger public must confront. When the issue appears on the national headline, perchance, most people will be forced to examine the issue deeply and contemplate for themselves. Is there anything we can do to inspire people to change their views/beliefs? What do you think the members of the Book Club can do to combat racist remarks, pacifist convictions, and preconceived notions towards members of the Black community?

Clearly, we need to do something to fight off racism as it has already become a really big issue in our country. As demonstrated in The Hate U Give, racist views can lead to unintentional violence by the police in the community. These violent scenes only lead to more violence that further devastate the community creating more strife and protest, essentially destabilizing a nation.

about the author: Diwakar enjoys reading mystery, sci-fi, and fantasy in his free time, but also likes to read fiction stories based upon real events and experiences relating to a variety of topics. Aside from reading, Diwakar likes to sing Indian classical songs, code, and play chess for fun.
about the editor: Angela is an avid reader of mostly fantasy, dystopia, and sci-fi, but she is branching out to more non-fiction/realistic fiction novels to learn more about current issues and stories of different life experiences. Outside of reading, she enjoys coding, piano, and watercoloring.