Some films are so real to the point where they’re painful, heartbreaking, and horrifying. Such was the case when I saw The Hate U Give. This film is one of the most important films to come out this year. It tells a story that many in the black community, unfortunately, know too well. It’s a story about an innocent black teen killed by a white police officer. The film is heavily inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and definitely hits home on some painful issues with politics, police brutality, racial profiling, and the controversy surrounding race and what it means to be black in today’s America. When I was watching the film, I could identify with a number of things the films main character, Starr, was coping with. I wasn’t raised in the hood and didn’t go to a private high school, but I can certainly identify with her struggles being a young black girl feeling torn between handling her blackness at home and attending a learning institution with white prep schooled peers who simply don’t “get it” along with being in an interracial relationship with a guy who likes her for who she is, but whom she has challenges opening up to fully because of who she is and where she comes from as a black teen. Starr’s background wasn’t unbearable. She was surrounded by love and had great parents and siblings who wanted the best for her, but her school life, her peers, and watching her friend get killed certainly impacted her in different ways. It was disturbing but not shocking with how out of touch with reality a lot of her peers were, yet, a number of them took a liking to black culture staples such as: hip-hop, slang, Jordan sneakers, and using the phrase “lit” (I ran into a white guy that said that same thing to me once when entering a church service. I looked at him like he was crazy. I don’t believe he meant any harm, but it was corny and unnecessary.) It's bizarre how some people may enjoy black culture but can't empathize with the challenges, struggles, and sometimes brutally harsh realities that come with being black. Especially when politics, prejudice, race, and the justice system are involved. The conflicts surrounding these issues is certainly food for thought that can be hard to digest at times. The Hate U Give is well-written (read the book by Angie Thomas before or after seeing the film) and massively thought-provoking. Go see it.