The Hate U Give starring Amandla Stenberg and KJ Apa has everyone raving about how great they are as an on-screen couple. But also has everyone talking about the racism that the movie focuses on.

The film follows 16-year-old Starr Carter (Stenberg), who lives a double life. Starr 1: her home life in Garden Heights, a poor black community and Starr 2: her school life in a rich white community. Starr’s separate worlds get complicated and intertwined as she witnesses the shooting and death of her childhood friend, Khalil Harris, at the hands of a white police officer. Starr must choose if she wants to keep silent or speak up about the tragedy of her friend.

While Starr’s mother, Lisa, wants to keep her safe by keeping quiet about Garden Heights and a gang run by King, her father, Maverick, wants her to speak up and shine a light on police brutality against black people and social justice saying “I didn’t name you Starr by accident.”

The Hate U Give focuses on change and what is going on in the world today. Even though it is labeled a young adult fiction novel, it represents real events like the shooting of Trayvon Martin, Jordan Edwards, Terence Crutcher, Philando Castile, and Walter Scott. All of these shootings were years ago but they still leave marks on our hearts and fear in our minds.

This film, based on the novel by Angie Thomas, gives an important message to its viewers that minorities need to come together and stand up to police brutality and social injustice. It shows that nobody is going to fight our battles and instead of sitting around waiting for a change we need to make the change happen. I believe that everyone should see this movie and shine a light on the darkness.