Last week I went to the movies and saw The Hate U Give. The movie was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement but also largely inspired by late rapper Tupac Shakur and his “THUG LIFE” anthem and activism. I will let you research what “Thug Life” stands for if you don’t already know. & if you haven’t already watched this movie, I highly recommend it. It speaks to the very real and still relevant issues we are struggling with in America when it comes to police violence and social injustices.
This movie was about differences between black and white America. It is a story that follows a young, teenage black girl that goes to a predominantly white school. She is from the “hood” but doesn’t go to school there. Instead her parents drive her across town to go to a different school to give her a better education. It is about her struggle with her own identity as she shifts between being the black girl she is, that lives in the hood and the black “whitewashed” version of herself that attends a predominantly white private school. She acts different, in fear of being labeled as “ghetto” or the “poor little black girl” and feels bad for it too, but in world where people are quick to judge and speculate before they informate; this was her way of protecting herself. Then, in a dramatic turn of events, one of her childhood best friends is fatally shot at the hands of a white police officer. That is when she begins to see and accept herself for who she really is and starts to stand up for what she believes in: JUSTICE.
If you are white, and you are reading this, there are things you will likely never understand about what it means to be a minority. Even if you think you “don’t see color”, there are life struggles that minorities face that you never will because you are not black or brown. What the black community wants is to be heard. They just want others to understand the injustices they still face today. In my opinion, I think it is more important that you do see color. That we recognize that it shouldn’t be about black or white, because we are human, but to understand that there are still issues related to the color of one’s skin. Not to dismiss them because YOU “don’t see color” but to understand that we are different. That you can see others, acknowledge and accept them for who they are, despite our differences and begin to try to understand where their pain comes from when dealing with topics surrounding racial tensions still prevalent in our world today. This movie makes it possible for us to step into someone elses shoes and face their reality. For me, the take away from this film was still something much bigger. I realized something about my own self and the way I see my fellow black brothers.
You see, it’s been several months now since I was assaulted at gunpoint by a young black male. And actually, to be honest, watching this film was a bit of a trigger for me and caused me severe anxiety to the point that I almost walked out of the theater. It was hard to watch but I managed to sit through it and I am glad I did. Since my assault, it has been easy for me to see a young black man and automatically label him as a “thug” or think about what he might do if I get too close. All I see when I see a young black man is my perpetrator.
It’s awful and honestly, it still hurts my heart but I am working through it. I am back at my home church and I am doing my best to catch those thoughts as they enter my mind and rebuke them. I don’t want to hate my black brothers.
This movie took me back to that night and the young man that felt it necessary to pull a gun out on me and try to rob me. I think about what his life is like. Does he have a father present in his life? What hardships is he faced with at home? Does he have food on his table? Is he listening to gangster rap? Has he ever actually listened to the words of Tupac Shakur?
All of these thoughts came to me and I just prayed. I felt compassion for him because the truth is, that I don’t know his story and regardless of the circumstance that resulted in our lives crossing paths, however painful it was for me, his story still matters. This kid is hurt. There is something in his life that is missing. I can say it is Jesus, because we all need Him, but the other reality of it is that this kid is a product of the “hate” he has been given. He is out thuggin’ in the streets because he wasn’t given love. There is a void that needs to be filled. I pray he finds healing. I pray that instead of the hate that has been given to him, he begins to have an encounter with Jesus and that someone, somewhere can see him for who he really is and not label him as a thug. That maybe someone can recognize themselves in him and show him a better way to “get up out the hood” as Tupac would say.
I pray that instead of “The Hate U Give” we can all replace the word hate with things like hope, compassion, truth, forgiveness, empathy, kindness, friendship and love. So that together, we can make the necessary changes to live in a world where we are doing more loving than hating.
“You gotta make a change. It’s time for us as a people to start makin’ some changes, let’s change the way we eat, let’s change the way we live, and let’s change the way we treat each other.” – Tupac Shakur
