When you think about the phrase “THUG LIFE,” the first thing that comes to mind is gangster and thugs. However, THUG LIFE to the late rapper Tupac was an acronym meaning: The Hate U Give Little Infants Fs Everybody.

  Author Angie Thomas uses Tupac’s acronym for the title of her Young Adult fiction book The Hate U Give which tells the heart wrenching story after 16 year old Starr Carter witness her childhood friend, Khalil, get murder by the police.

  Not only is Starr struggling to find the courage to testify about Khalil’s murder, she is also struggling to find a common middle ground in the two lives she is living: white private school Starr and ghetto Garden Heights Starr. When she is in school she feels that she needs to censor her personality to be seen as the “ghetto black girl.” However, when she is around her  neighborhood friends, they see her as too good for them because she doesn’t go to school with them.

  This internal conflict Starr has hinders her voice when trying speak for her late friend Khalil when she is testifying. She doesn’t want to let her friends know that she was there when he was murder, but she wants to make sure that he gets the rightful justice he deserves. Thomas was able to illustrate how people of color do not want to speak out for their late friend because during the trial, in most cases, the deceased is put on trial and their killers.  

  To top off Starr’s insecurities with her school persona, she also has insecurities about her safety in Garden Heights. With Garden Heights being heavily gang related, as well as her father being former notorious gangbanger, gang tensions rise with  Khalil’s murder.

  The Hate U Give reflects larger of the racial tension and police brutality today  in America. With recent rises in police brutality and recent humanitarian groups like the #BLACKLIVESMATTER movement, The Hate U Give is a book that help others understand the Black Lives Matter movement as well as see what other races are feelings.

  Angie Thomas gives  homage to all of the lives were taken from police brutality especially against young teens from troubled neighborhoods: Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, and Tamir Rice. She even echos Eric Garner’s infamous line right before died, “They finally put a sheet over Khalil. He can’t breathe under it. I can’t breathe.”

  Although the book is centered around the heavy topic of police brutality, her light hearted and comedic writing style was able to bring light to the story. Thomas references popular internet memes and common black people stereotypes makes the story relatable and is able to capture the reader.

  The Hate U Give is Angie Thomas’ first book and it has been getting a lot of praise. It was #1 on  The New York Times’ Best Seller List for four consecutive weeks. It also being turned into a movie which is being directed by George Tillman Jr, who also directed The Longest Ride and Notorious. The movie adaption has an all star cast: Issa Rae who stars, directs, and write her own show, Insecure, on HBO, Amandla Stenberg who played Rue in The Hunger Games and Madeline in Everything Everything, and Regina Hall who just came off the summer hit Girls Trip.

  THUG LIFE is a phrase that echoes throughout the book. Many think that that acronym tattooed across Tupac’s lower stomach embodies the dangerous lifestyle he comes from. However, Khalil was able to explain to Starr right before he passed to show how the system treats the young generation, “What society gives us as youth, it bites them in the ass when we wild out.”