People like us in situations like this become hashtags, but they rarely get justice. I think we all wait for that one time though, that one time when it ends right.

I am not black. I don’t live in a neighborhood with a high rate of violent crime. And while I once feared getting pulled over by the police, it wasn’t because I feared for my life, worried the officer might shoot me. It was because I was afraid of getting a V.I. or a speeding ticket. In so many ways, I can’t really relate to the story told in The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. And that’s all the more reason why I had to read it. So should you.

You’ve got to wonder why The Hate U Give appeared on so many “challenged” and banned book lists last year. Is it because they’re afraid it could encourage civil disobedience and violent protests? Or is it because Angie Thomas speaks a truth that they’d rather brush under the carpet? Especially if you grew up in a relatively affluent neighborhood in a relatively well-to-do family, you may struggle to get through these pages.

And it’s not because the book is poorly written. Quite the opposite, actually. It’s that the text, written from the first-person perspective of protagonist Starr Carter, is poignant and powerful, eliciting an almost visceral emotional response from readers. This is America. Don’t catch you slipping now.

By now, you’ve surely heard the stories of police brutality and systemic racism. We think that we’ve improved as a society and as a culture, and yet so many problems that Tupac Shakur rapped about in the ’90s still plague us today. Indeed, the title of the book comes from Tupac’s “THUG LIFE” initialism: The Hate U Give Little Infants F***s Everybody.

Except, now we have hashtags. And “thoughts and prayers.” And yet, nothing changes.

Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.

To summarize the main plot of The Hate U Give, Starr Carter lives in a crime-ridden black community, but goes to school at an overwhelmingly white private school in the suburbs. She leads a double life, presenting herself very differently depending on who she’s with. Starr doesn’t want to appear “bougie” with her black friends, but she doesn’t want her white school friends to see her as too “hood” either.

When one of her childhood friends — Khalil Harris — is shot by a white police officer, she gets caught in the crosshairs as the only witness, the only person who can testify. Khalil is characterized as a drug dealer and gangbanger by the media, but Starr knows him much better than that. What can she do to ensure he gets justice?

The movie based on the book is good, and really tugs at those heartstrings. You really feel for these characters, trapped in the “game” with nowhere to turn. What can you do to stop the violence when all your efforts feel futile? These are tough topics — police brutality, racial profiling, overt and more subtle acts of racism — but that’s all the more reason we should be talking about them.

(As is so often the case, the book offers much more depth and context. I’d say read the book before you watch the movie for sure. )

The Hate U Give is not an easy read (or watch), but it is a necessary read. It’s powerful, moving, and deeply emotional. I really can’t recommend it enough. Were he alive today, ‘Pac would be very proud of Angie Thomas and what she has achieved here.

To every kid in Georgetown and in all “the Gardens” of the world: your voices matter, your dreams matter, your lives matter. Be roses that grow in the concrete.