Angie Thomas: We Have to Get Uncomfortable
With police brutality, massive Black Lives Matter protests, and a global pandemic shaping experiences across America, the novels of Angie Thomas have never seemed more urgent. The visionary author and activist speaks to the complexity of the Black experience in America—laying bare the hardships endured, but also the community sustained, by those for whom systemic racism is a daily reality. The Hate U Give, Thomas’s 2017 debut novel (which became a number one New York Times bestseller), centers on the police killing of a young, unarmed Black man and the collective unrest, grief, and anger that followed—a story painfully familiar in the wake of the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless other people of color. Three years after its publication, the continuing salience of Thomas’s narrative is itself evidence of the need for accountability and change.
But while the injustices Thomas illuminates in the novel are sobering reminders of the progress we as a nation have yet to make, the work is also powerfully individual. The book centers on the experience of Starr, a young Black woman who straddles the two worlds of her Black neighborhood and her predominantly white private school. As the novel develops, we see Starr—the sole witness to the shooting of her unarmed friend—find the power of her voice, take matters into her own hands, and inspire change. Thomas’s latest novel, On the Come Up, published last year, unfolds within the same fictional universe as The Hate U Give, and also focuses on the power of community and togetherness, and how grief can fuel action. Told with depth and complexity, the story is another testament to the importance of speaking truth to power, and, like The Hate U Give, is hard to put down.
Thomas’s admiration for youth activism and advocacy extends beyond the page. Recently, she joined —a student led literary non-profit I founded with my friend Lucas Gimbel at the beginning of lockdown—for a live virtual event to discuss the Black Lives Matter movement, literature as activism, and making change in our communities. The Project was inspired by Giovanni Boccaccio’s 14th Century novel —in which ten young Italians quarantine together to escape the Black Death and tell stories to connect and pass the time—and its similarity to our current circumstances. We are a dedicated team of students who work to amplify other young people’s voices, empowering them to share their perspectives and come together through the power of stories. We publish
