Editorial: Does The Hate U Give Portray Police Officers too Harshly?

By Maureen Waldner

The Hate U Give is an inspirational and impactful movie, that is especially important for our generation to be exposed to. The Hate U Give follows a teenage girl, Starr, who constantly switches between her two lifestyles, her rich private school, Williamson, and her poor, predominantly black neighborhood, Garden Heights. Her worlds collide after the death of her friend, Khalil, due to police brutality. In the wake of the release of the movie, controversy abounds surrounding the portrayal of police officers in the popular movie. Blue Lives matter advocates have spoken out against the police representation in The Hate U Give. The movie’s portrayal of police officers is fair and should not deduct value from the message of the film.

This controversy shouldn’t disconnect the movie from its message. The movie shouldn’t be ridiculed for its police representation, it should be applauded for having the courage to depict such a contentious topic. Police brutality is a shocking and tragic epidemic that has only grown in occurrence over the years. The statistics depict the growing number of lives lost to police brutality. 149 people killed by police in 2017 were unarmed, and of those 149 people, about 110 of them were people of color, mostly young black men. Black people were more likely to be killed by police, more likely to be unarmed and less likely to be threatening someone when killed. Unarmed black people were killed at five times the rate of unarmed whites in 2015. Failure to address this topic has caused a greater number of deaths due to police violence.

Blue lives matter advocates, rivals of the black lives matter movement have responded to the movie saying that the portrayal of police officers is unfair and that police violence is not a major issue. However, the evidence suggests that while the majority of police officers are very honorable and deserving of gratitude, there are a shockingly high number of violent police officers. These unfortunate events need to be addressed so they can be prevented. The movie is not claiming that all police officers are evil, it is implying that police brutality is real, and stereotyping black men as criminals is something that needs to be stopped. The Hate U Give does a great job shedding light on that.

All in all The Hate U Give addresses a very tragic but unfortunately a very prevalent and reoccurring issue. The movie handled it well, giving voice to those who have been silenced without criminalizing the police. Hopefully, this movie will inspire others like it, and clear a path for others to have to courage to talk about tough topics.