After sitting through the two hour and 12 minute movie of “The Hate U Give,” I left not only feeling empowered, but with a better understanding of police brutality and the racism that is still prominent in America today.

The movie, based off the book by Angie Thomas, is about a girl named Starr Carter, played by Amanda Stenberg who grows up in Garden Hights, and goes to a predominantly white high school. The conflict arose within the first half hour, when her friend Khalil Harrison who is innocent, is killed by a police officer.

I read the book in a book group  assignment during my junior English class. After reading the novel, I hoped it would become a movie, as the message behind the story is a current issue in today’s politics and society. The powerful message of using your voice to impact others and make change happen is a major theme.

The movie mimicked aspects of the book very closely, which can be unusual for books that turn into movies. When reading a book, one most likely reads in increments, and with the book having over 400 pages, it’s hard to get all the powerful scenes in one read. The movie on the other hand, produced compelling scenes consistently for over two hours, which caused me to have to take a deep breath and recuperate myself after.

Liv Sirles, who read the book last year says, “I’m super excited about the movie coming out. The book impacted me because it showed me how real racism can be. In the area we live, racism isn’t shown as much as in the areas where The Hate U Give takes place.”

The main character, Starr, goes to a predominantly white school. There she has a boyfriend who shows a great amount of support for her and her family. Her friend, Hailey, turns out to be racist and unsupportive of Starr; she sees the protest of Khalil’s death during school as a way to get out of math class, rather than wanting to seek justice.

Overall, this is a movie many should see and would benefit from. No movie has ever been made about this subject, from a teenager who is high school aged perceptive. “The Hate U Give” brings the insight and understanding of what black people go through everyday, that we in our bubble, have a hard time grasping. “The Hate U Give”, starts conversation and brings reality to what is really happening.