How does the author (Angie Thomas) use colloquial langauge such as 'Slang' to covey the inequalties between white and black Americans?

The author uses slang, pop culture references, and some African American Vernacular English (AAVE) to get the reader inside the mind of an African American teenager living a dual life. AAVE is a dialect common to individuals living in urban environments and shares many stylistic similarities to speech patterns from the rural South. It is this type of language that Starr feels she must suppress when she is in the white, affluent environment of Riverton Hills/Williamson. This is called code switching. African Americans often feel the need to change their speech to suit different audiences. Starr does not use much slang or AAVE when talking to her friends at Williamson because she feels that, as one of the only African Americans at the school, she is a representative of her entire race. If she uses improper grammar, even as a stylistic choice (which many teens do), she might give her white peers the impression that African Americans are ignorant. “Williamson Starr doesn't use slang,” she says, “if a rapper would say it, she doesn't say it, even if her white friends do” [71]. When speaking to a detective, Starr mentally admonishes herself for saying “Nah” before correcting herself with “no, ma'am” [98].

An example of AAVE is the way Starr is addressed by people who know her in Garden Heights – she is “Big Mav's daughter who work in the store” [8]. Another example is Khalil's response to Starr's question of why he needs to speak to her father, he says it is “Grown folks business” [15]. Starr describes Williamson as “bougie,” and the contraction “y'all” is used frequently by most of the African American characters [35. 41]. Female elders are addressed as “Ms.” followed by their first names, as in Khalil's grandmother, “Ms. Rosalie” [66]. Other words and phrases Starr uses would be classified more as general teen slang, such as “No shade” and “OMG” [79, 206]. Garden Heights has its own unique patois as well. When someone is “'busy'” it means they are selling drugs [12]. Starr is known as a “'queen,'” a designation given to her at birth because her father was a King Lord [17].