First of all a bit of a disclaimer, I’d like to say it didn’t feel right for me to put this book next to a candle or whatever and try to make this look like part of a theme because it doesn’t do the book justice at all so instead I’ve surrounded it with 6 prominent influences mentioned throughout the book, to clarify the influences I will list, Malcolm X, Black Panthers, Dr King, Emmett Till, Huey Newton and Tupac. All these are key mentions in the book. I want to start by also saying that I am white and could never possibly understand what it’s like to be black, in the same way a man could not possibly comprehend what it’s like to be a woman. I can educate myself and advocate but I think it’s important to say that education is more than reading a few books or learning a little history, it’s about continually staying educated and trying to make a change. I’m not the person you should be looking to for advice on the Black Lives Matter movement and so I encourage you to check out actual activists like @mspackyetti for information and don’t just go to your favourite celebrities or people.
My initial reaction to this book is simply WOW. I think it's one of the most important books I've read in a long time. When we meet Starr we kinda treat her like a typical nerdy girl, she's at a party and she's kinda like I don't know why I'm here and we think this book is gonna be a kind of coming of age novel, we meet Khalil who is her childhood best friend, they catch up and have a heart to heart about Khalil's gran and reminisce about Harry Potter as kids and then a shot is fired and everyone flees from the party, Khalil looks after Starr and offers to take her home. It is at this point the story changes.
Starr and Khalil get pulled over by the cops and the cop unlawfully shoots Khalil despite the fact he is unarmed and poses no threat at all, he also points his gun on Starr and we begin to understand the real fear that the black community faces. Starr struggles to deal with this as the story goes on and she struggles to find her voice, worried she will put herself in danger, she eventually agrees to fight to get justice for Khalil by speaking to the police and giving her witness report but despite her following all the rules and speaking out Khalil does not get justice.
This book gives us a deep look in to the feelings of the black community. It gives us an eye-opening account of the prejudices that they face and makes us realise we can all always do better, we can always do more to support the Black Lives Matter movement and we can always educate ourselves and stop being ignorant to the racism that lives on today. I think everyone should read this book, it made me uncomfortable at times in the best way. It made me reflect and I went on to look into the cases and references mentioned in the book which I encourage everyone to do.
This book is so relevant to today and the strides that the Black Lives Matter movement are making but also shines an important spotlight on how people can be not racist but say racist things. I think everyone knows a person like Hailey and we can must do more to stop this casual racism.
To quote the book "Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right."