The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas was published in 2017. It was awarded the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Young Adult Fiction and adapted into an award-winning movie.
BANNED in Charlotte, Collier, Hernando, Indian River, Martin, Nassau, Seminole and St. Johns public schools
The Hate U Give is Angie Thomas’ debut young adult novel that began as a short story when Thomas was studying creative writing at Belhaven University.
Thomas was inspired by the 2009 murder of Oscar Grant. 22-year-old Grant was profiled by police officers responding to reports of a fight on a train in Oakland, California. Reportedly, Grant was not among those fighting but was detained alongside several other black men. Grant was pinned down and fatally shot in the back. The police officer who shot Grant, Johannes Mehserle, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter – not murder.
Influenced by Grant’s killing and other instances of police brutality, Thomas’ short story quickly expanded into The Hate U Give. The story follows 16-year-old Starr Carter, a black girl attending a predominantly white, private high school. One night, Starr and her black friend, Kahlil, are driving and stopped by police. Kahlil is ordered out of the car, shot in the back and killed. The news reports Kahlil as a gang banger and drug dealer. Starr struggles to find her place in the resulting protests and riots.
The novel reflects the experience of black students in the age of police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement. Starr avoids being stereotyped by her white classmates by code switching. At school, Starr’s own best friend and boyfriend defend Kahlil’s murder. Starr represents all black students forced to toe the line.
Florida’s HB 1069 provided an easy excuse to ban The Hate U Give and censor its racial commentary. Portions of HB 1069 were struck down by a U.S. District Court August 2025.
Using sexual content as a scapegoat, Collier County Public Schools banned the book for its allusions to sex: “There’s talk of an affair between two adults. Teens engage in heavy petting, talk about having sex and condoms. A teen girl is described as being on birth control, and there’s discussion of teen pregnancy and the assumption that a married couple is having sex when they go to their bedroom and turn the television up loud. A woman is revealed to be a sex worker.”
“What’s the point of having a voice if you’re gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn’t be?”