Summary
In a predominately black neighborhood, Starr Carter, a young girl, and her brother, Seven, get a talk from her father, Maverick, who tells her about how to deal with the police. He warns them that one day they will get pulled over, and that he will put his hands, palms down, on the dashboard. He asks Starr and her brother to do the same, and they do. "It can get real dangerous, so don't argue with them, but keep your hands where they can see them," Maverick says.
Starr begins to narrate in voiceover, telling us that she was nine years old when she first got "the talk" about police brutality. She says that Seven, her half-brother, was 10, and her brother Sekani was one. "Don't you ever forget that being black is an honor, cause we come from greatness," Maverick says, before handing his children the Black Panther Ten-Point program, "our own bill of rights."
Maverick tells Starr and Seven that he is going to quiz them about the Ten-Point program, even though his wife, Lisa, is concerned. "Know your rights, know your worth," he says, and Starr nods.
The film shifts forward in time. Starr is now 16, and she puts on a school uniform before finding her younger brother Sekani, who has peed all over the toilet seat. In voiceover, she tells us that her parents had her when they were 17, which caused her grandmother to throw Lisa out of the house. On the walls of the Carter house are pictures of black Jesus and Malcolm X. In voiceover, Starr talks about the fact that her grandmother disapproved of her father, who she saw as "just a pusher for the King Lords gang."
Lisa and Maverick kiss and flirt, as Seven and Starr sit down for breakfast in their school uniforms. Starr says that her parents are her "one true pairing." She then narrates that Lisa and Maverick were both born in Garden Heights, where they still live, and we see various community members: a man barbecue-ing, a man who owns a barbershop, and the store that Maverick owns. "Carter's Grocery is where you get your milk, Newport shorts, Hot Cheetos, hot gossip, and anything else that you might need in a hurry," Starr tells us.
Lisa drives Seven and Starr to school, asking Seven if he's staying with them or at his mother's that night. He tells her he's going to his mother's, "as long as King ain't there." We see King, the leader of the King Lords gang. "My dad used to be his righthand man," Starr says. Starr narrates that she and her siblings don't go to the school in Garden Heights, but to a private school in an affluent white neighborhood. On their drive, Lisa asks Sekani what his name means, and he yells, "Joy!"
At Williamson School, the Carter children go their separate ways. Starr narrates that at Williamson, she has to be a different version of herself, one who doesn't use slang, even if her white friends do. A white girl says, "Hey boo," to Starr, who responds in a very formal way. As Starr puts it, "Slang makes them cool. Slang makes me 'hood.'" Another student compliments her shoes, Space Jams.
We see Starr getting lunch, as she narrates that at Williamson, she is approachable and non-confrontational. As a boy cuts her in the lunch line, Starr bites her tongue, even though she wants to speak up about the injustice.
In the locker room, Hailey, Starr's friend, who is white, offers to get back at a boy for her. Another girl, Maya, asks what they are talking about, and Hailey tells her, "Chris lured Starr over to his house and sprung a condom on her." Maya's interest is piqued and she asks about it, but Starr insists that she isn't ready to have sex. She tells her friends that she is going to "Beyonce his ass," as a way of getting back at him.
We see Chris, Starr's white boyfriend, walking down the hall and Starr notes that he's wearing the same shoes as her. She feels a little tenderness for him, but tries to cover it up when he approaches. He puts his headphones over her ears and she smiles, but soon catches herself and tells him that she's still angry about the other night. Chris confronts her about the fact that she's always busy when he wants to hang out. He insists that he wants to feel closer to her, since they've been dating for six months, but that she's putting up walls. He tells her he made the beat he just played just for her.
To prove his love for her, Chris takes the headphones off and dances to the beat in the hallway, which makes Starr laugh and pull him aside. She tells him she forgives him and they kiss. As they do, two white girls look over skeptically, and Starr narrates that some people in the school wonder why Chris is dating her. "The stares usually come from the rich white girls, but they're scared to actually say anything to our faces," she narrates.
Chris asks her to go out with him that weekend, and Starr agrees. They plan to meet on Sunday at three o'clock to hang out. "Chris is the best part of being Starr Version 2, and sometimes I think that's all I want to be, until the weekend comes around" Starr narrates.
The scene shifts to a party in Garden Heights on the weekend at a house. Starr and her friend, Kenya—her half-sister and "only friend in Garden Heights"—enter the party and Kenya insults Starr's outfit, an oversized hoodie.
Outside, Kenya notices a girl she doesn't like, Denasia, who she wants to "handle." Starr gets nervous as Kenya asks, "What, you too good now to have my back?" They run into two people in the kitchen at the party, and start talking about the fact that Starr hangs out with white people, laughing about Taylor Swift and white-people drugs, like mollie. Kenya talks about the fact that she wants to confront Denasia, and the two other people go to help her. Starr stays behind, abandoned by her half-sister and friends.
Wandering into the main room of the party, Starr sees people partying and stands against the wall watching. She notices a guy, Khalil, someone has known since she was a baby, and they smile at each other. "Weird what the sight of Khalil's brown eyes do to me now," Starr says as he walks towards her.
They greet each other and ask what the other is up to. Starr notices his nice shoes and expensive earrings, signs that he is getting mixed up with the neighborhood gang, then asks about his family. He tells her that his grandmother has cancer, and jokes that she is most worried about having to wear a wig during chemo. They change the subject and laugh. When Khalil makes fun of Starr for hanging out with white kids, she accidentally scuffs his immaculate white sneakers, and rubs it off, joking, "Every time a sneaker is cleaned improperly, a kitten dies." She gives him a knowing look about the fact that he must be working with the gang if he has such nice shoes.
Suddenly, a fight breaks out at the party and there are gunshots. Everyone runs from the house. Starr and Khalil get in his car and drive away. He turns on some Tupac on the radio, and Starr makes fun of him for it being popular music 20 years prior. He quotes Tupac and says, "THUG LIFE means, 'The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody,'" meaning that the ways that society hurts children make children grow up to seek revenge.
Starr asks Khalil if he's mixed up in dealing drugs, and he tells her that his job at McDonald's wasn't making him any money, and his grandma was fired from the hospital when she got cancer. Khalil pulls over on the side of the road, as Starr gets a text from Kenya confirming she's alright. Khalil starts to flirt with her, and they reminisce about the fact that they used to play Harry Potter when they were 10, calling themselves, "The Hood Trio." Starr remembers that she was always Harry, Khalil was Ron, and Natasha was Hermione.
Khalil brings up the fact that they kissed in a church basement back then, before kissing Starr. Starr tells him she has a boyfriend and he gets a little sad, before smiling and saying, "We've been together our whole lives, Starr, we got time." As he starts up the car and starts to drive, a police officer pulls him over, for no reason.
Analysis
The film starts with a sobering lesson in police brutality from a black father to his two young kids. The tone is very serious, as Maverick, the patriarch, gives the kids a talk about how to deal with the prejudice of the police. The director, George Tillman Jr., immediately shows the viewer the difficulties the characters must face because of their race. The fact that he is giving this lesson to two innocent-looking kids only makes the scene that much more affecting.
Maverick follows up his talk with an affirmation, reminding his children that "being black is an honor" and handing them the Black Panther Ten-Point program. As much as he feels obligated to honestly relate the dangers of being black in America to his children, Maverick also presents them with an alternative to fear. He shows them that they have a reason to be proud and that there is a history of pro-black movements in which they can anchor themselves.
When the scene shifts forward in time, we see a 16-year-old Starr who is fragmented in her identity by virtue of her position in society. She is a neighborhood kid from the rougher Garden Heights, but she attends a tony white private school called Williamson where, she tells us, she must become "Williamson Starr." By anchoring us in Starr's experience, the film gives the viewer a window into her particular struggles, a perspective on both the joys and pain of her world.
A big part of the pain of her fragmented identity is the double standards to which Starr is subject. As she tells us, when white students use urban slang, it makes them seem cool, but when she uses it, it makes her "hood," which is a less flattering identity at Williamson. The contradiction of this situation is palpable; not only does Starr not feel like she can be herself at school, she also feels like her white peers are rewarded for the very behavior that she feels she has to cover up to fit in.
One of the specific ways that Starr feels fragmented, split between her life at a white school and her life in the neighborhood, is in her romantic attachments. At Williamson, she has a loving and devoted white boyfriend, Chris, who wants to get to know her better. They share a lot, but he has no idea about the life and the world that she comes from. In Garden Heights, she runs into her old friend Khalil, with whom she has instant chemistry, and with whom she shares a lot. However, he is involved in a dangerous gang—an aspect of life in Garden Heights that Starr would rather distance herself from. There is a clear and immediate tension between these two suitors, which only makes Starr feel more caught in the middle.
