While I was at home battling a case of the stomach flu on Saturday night, I had no idea what I was about to get myself into when I decided to order the film The Hate U Give On-Demand.
The film may be based on a novel, but given the increasingly strong relevance it has in our society and the seemingly personal nature of the picture, it felt more real than other such films, as real as a documentary.
THUG (The Hate U Give) centers around a young black man being pulled over, pulling out a hairbrush from the backseat of his car and getting shot and killed by a white officer, with a friend of his in the passenger seat. The young woman is understandably shaken by the event. While she lives in a black neighborhood, she gets educated at a predominantly white school and tries to separate those two lives the best she can. Having to regularly split her identity into two, she soon starts losing herself. Members of the Black Lives Matter movement start protesting the incident, especially after a grand jury decides the officer in question shouldn't have to face trial. The witness gets approached by protesters, wanting her to be a voice of the fallen and to help fight racism which impacts them all. On the other side, she faces threats for speaking up about the tragedy. When she decides to stand up and let her voice be known, she finally finds herself, and provides hope for the future.
That condensed synopsis doesn't really do this film justice. The Hate U Give had to be the most powerful, gripping film I've seen in years, perhaps ever. As a white man, while I've always fought for blacks' equality due to my principles, I've never been able to figuratively step inside the shoes of a black man and know exactly how differently he's seen and treated than I am just based on the color of his skin. While I think I at least try to empathize with the hardships minorities in this country have to endure, I'd be lying if I said I knew exactly what they go through and how it impacts them on both a personal and professional level. This film helped me understand such hardships a bit more. It started connecting the dots for me, to a point where the picture suddenly makes complete sense.
I, like millions of other Americans, have been disgusted by the seemingly ubiquitous headlines featuring a white cop killing an unarmed black man and then not having to face any criminal charges. It angered me. I felt affected. I felt ashamed of my skin color. I understood the foundation on which the Black Lives Matter movement resided and tried to explain it to others. I defended Colin Kaepernick's silent protest during the National Anthem preceding football games on Sundays. Until everyone is seen and treated as equals in the eyes of the law, freedom is but a myth and can be stripped from anyone at any time, so we must fight for it, not just for ourselves, but for our American brothers and sisters as well.
For as much as I've believed in and fought for blacks' rights, though, I've remained in the mental dark as far as "systemic racism" is concerned. Not anymore. For whatever reason, something clicked while I was watching The Hate U Give. Let's think about this for a moment. Blacks were brought here as slaves from Africa. After years of living that lifestyle, they were given (some) freedoms. Slavery is like prison. Slaves have their masters, must abide by orders, after a certain period of time get accustomed to these routines, and often times are unable to adjust to life after they're released. Sounds an awful lot like imprisonment, doesn't it? When prisoners are released, while they may be free from their jail cells, they often don't get to enjoy a lot of the freedoms most of us take for granted. They're segregated in a sense. This leads many to work minimal-paying jobs, be treated as a (former) felon and not a person, go back to crime as a result of all this, and wind up back in the slammer. It's a vicious cycle. This is what blacks have had to endure since they were brought here. Not only that, but law enforcement and the justice system have been biased against them. If a white man and a black man both get charged with the same crime, chances are good the black man will receive a harsher sentence than the white man. Why? He wasn't able to pay for as good of a lawyer, has fallen victim to systemic racism previously, and is caught in what I termed the vicious cycle. The most powerful have, for years, attempted to brainwash the public into thinking black people are dangerous and scary. They've continually attempted to suggest to us that there's a link between skin color and anger/violence. Due to this, when an unarmed black man gets shot and killed by a white cop, many whites, instead of getting angry about the murder, start asking questions about the victim's character and making excuses for the perpetrator: "Was the black guy ever convicted of another crime? Did he threaten the cop at all? Was he high at the time? Had he ever smoked marijuana? Did he have anger issues?" Rarely do I hear such questions aimed toward the police officer. Unfortunately, many police officers have bought into the racially-based fear-mongering. In the film, a black officer, when asked what he would have done if a black guy reached into the back of a car, he said he'd shoot him. When asked what he'd do if a white man did the same thing, he said, "I'd tell him to put his hands up." Sadly, I think that's a fairly accurate representation of law enforcement officials in this country. If he's black, shoot and ask questions later. If he's white, ask questions now, shoot later.
So how do we end this systemic racism aimed at blacks? First of all, I think we need to implement serious criminal justice reform. Similarly, we need to implement drug reform. We need to get more serious about sensitivity training for our officers. We need to mandate equal funding for public schools across this country. We need to provide equal opportunity in the workplace. We need to stop and reverse voter-suppression laws. We need to find a way to make it so blacks and whites aren't so segregated from one another. Whites need to stand up more for our American brothers and sisters, regardless of age, gender, race, creed, or orientation. United we stand; divided we fall. When one doesn't have freedom, it affects us all.
The film may be based on a novel, but given the increasingly strong relevance it has in our society and the seemingly personal nature of the picture, it felt more real than other such films, as real as a documentary.
THUG (The Hate U Give) centers around a young black man being pulled over, pulling out a hairbrush from the backseat of his car and getting shot and killed by a white officer, with a friend of his in the passenger seat. The young woman is understandably shaken by the event. While she lives in a black neighborhood, she gets educated at a predominantly white school and tries to separate those two lives the best she can. Having to regularly split her identity into two, she soon starts losing herself. Members of the Black Lives Matter movement start protesting the incident, especially after a grand jury decides the officer in question shouldn't have to face trial. The witness gets approached by protesters, wanting her to be a voice of the fallen and to help fight racism which impacts them all. On the other side, she faces threats for speaking up about the tragedy. When she decides to stand up and let her voice be known, she finally finds herself, and provides hope for the future.
That condensed synopsis doesn't really do this film justice. The Hate U Give had to be the most powerful, gripping film I've seen in years, perhaps ever. As a white man, while I've always fought for blacks' equality due to my principles, I've never been able to figuratively step inside the shoes of a black man and know exactly how differently he's seen and treated than I am just based on the color of his skin. While I think I at least try to empathize with the hardships minorities in this country have to endure, I'd be lying if I said I knew exactly what they go through and how it impacts them on both a personal and professional level. This film helped me understand such hardships a bit more. It started connecting the dots for me, to a point where the picture suddenly makes complete sense.
I, like millions of other Americans, have been disgusted by the seemingly ubiquitous headlines featuring a white cop killing an unarmed black man and then not having to face any criminal charges. It angered me. I felt affected. I felt ashamed of my skin color. I understood the foundation on which the Black Lives Matter movement resided and tried to explain it to others. I defended Colin Kaepernick's silent protest during the National Anthem preceding football games on Sundays. Until everyone is seen and treated as equals in the eyes of the law, freedom is but a myth and can be stripped from anyone at any time, so we must fight for it, not just for ourselves, but for our American brothers and sisters as well.
For as much as I've believed in and fought for blacks' rights, though, I've remained in the mental dark as far as "systemic racism" is concerned. Not anymore. For whatever reason, something clicked while I was watching The Hate U Give. Let's think about this for a moment. Blacks were brought here as slaves from Africa. After years of living that lifestyle, they were given (some) freedoms. Slavery is like prison. Slaves have their masters, must abide by orders, after a certain period of time get accustomed to these routines, and often times are unable to adjust to life after they're released. Sounds an awful lot like imprisonment, doesn't it? When prisoners are released, while they may be free from their jail cells, they often don't get to enjoy a lot of the freedoms most of us take for granted. They're segregated in a sense. This leads many to work minimal-paying jobs, be treated as a (former) felon and not a person, go back to crime as a result of all this, and wind up back in the slammer. It's a vicious cycle. This is what blacks have had to endure since they were brought here. Not only that, but law enforcement and the justice system have been biased against them. If a white man and a black man both get charged with the same crime, chances are good the black man will receive a harsher sentence than the white man. Why? He wasn't able to pay for as good of a lawyer, has fallen victim to systemic racism previously, and is caught in what I termed the vicious cycle. The most powerful have, for years, attempted to brainwash the public into thinking black people are dangerous and scary. They've continually attempted to suggest to us that there's a link between skin color and anger/violence. Due to this, when an unarmed black man gets shot and killed by a white cop, many whites, instead of getting angry about the murder, start asking questions about the victim's character and making excuses for the perpetrator: "Was the black guy ever convicted of another crime? Did he threaten the cop at all? Was he high at the time? Had he ever smoked marijuana? Did he have anger issues?" Rarely do I hear such questions aimed toward the police officer. Unfortunately, many police officers have bought into the racially-based fear-mongering. In the film, a black officer, when asked what he would have done if a black guy reached into the back of a car, he said he'd shoot him. When asked what he'd do if a white man did the same thing, he said, "I'd tell him to put his hands up." Sadly, I think that's a fairly accurate representation of law enforcement officials in this country. If he's black, shoot and ask questions later. If he's white, ask questions now, shoot later.
So how do we end this systemic racism aimed at blacks? First of all, I think we need to implement serious criminal justice reform. Similarly, we need to implement drug reform. We need to get more serious about sensitivity training for our officers. We need to mandate equal funding for public schools across this country. We need to provide equal opportunity in the workplace. We need to stop and reverse voter-suppression laws. We need to find a way to make it so blacks and whites aren't so segregated from one another. Whites need to stand up more for our American brothers and sisters, regardless of age, gender, race, creed, or orientation. United we stand; divided we fall. When one doesn't have freedom, it affects us all.
A wonderful and powerful post. When we all stand together and say "ENOUGH", we start to see the misused and abused powers of those who would rather tear down than lift up, slip away. Changing the world begins with changing hearts, and I include myself and my own heart. None of us are perfect, and it takes more courage and strength to acknowledge your mistakes and actively work to change, than it does to stand with the crowd, knowing its wrong, and following along anyway. Thank you Craig, for being the guy who will stand up for what's right, even if it means he has to stand alone. You'll never have to, and you shouldn't have to, but either way you'll always have at least one other person to stand guard with you. :)
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