The Hate U Give is a book written by Angie Thomas and released in 2017. This book has so many cultural references that I am not sure if I will get them all. This post will be written in two parts. Since there is a lot. I’ll get started now.
Black Jesus
In the Christian Faith, Jesus is the messiah, the promise deliverer of the Jewish nation. Some people argue about his ethnicity. Since the location of Jesus was near Africa, it is said that he was black. I’m not exactly sure, so there’s not much to be said from me. But In the The Hate U Give, Starr’s dad believes in Black Jesus. Also there is a black Jesus comedy on Cartoon network. It has 2 seasons so far and can be watched on Hulu.
Black Panther Ten Point Program
The Black Panther Ten Point Program is a set of guidelines for the Black Panther Party. Starr’s dad likes to follow the program as well. The Ten Point Program was created in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. The political thoughts are along the lines of Marxism and Black Nationalism. The following is the short list of the Ten Point Program, if you would like to read more, go here.
- We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our black community.
- We want full employment for our people.
- We want the end to the robbery by the capitalist of our black community.
- We want decent housing fit for the shelter of human beings.
- We want education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American society. We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present-day society.
- We want all black men to be exempt from military service.
- We want an immediate end to the police brutality and murder of black people. (this one got to me)
- We want freedom for all black men held in federal, state, county, and city prison and jail.
- We want all black people when brought to trial to be tried in court by a jury of their peer group or people from their black communities, as defined by the constitution of the United States.
- We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, and peace.
Some of the things are a bit extreme, but when it was created the country was in a different time period. I do agree with some of the things, but number 7 is what resonates with me the most.
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is an American sit-com that originally aired in 1990. The show is a favorite of both Starr and her boyfriend, Chris. The shows stars Will “Fresh Prince” Smith, as a fictionalized character of himself. He comes from West Philadelphia and is sent to live with his wealthy aunt and uncle in Bel-Air after he gets into a fight. The series ran for 6 seasons and 148 episodes.
source
Tumblr
Tumblr is an American microblog and social network founded by Davic Karp in 2007. Starr realizes who her real friends are after posting a picture of Emmett Till. I have never really known much about Tumblr, but a friend of mine recommend I create one for this blog and so I did. Follow me!
Jodeci
Jodeci is a R&B quartet with members: DeVante Swing, Dalvin, K-Ci & Jojo. The group was formed in 1989 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The group began as two duos of brothers. But after several years with limited success, they joined forces with the some “Come and Talk to Me” on the debut album Forever My Lady. Jodeci was mentioned in the book because of one of the supporting characters, DeVante, and his brother Dalvin, are named after the brothers in the group. I want to say that I have heard them before, but I am not sure. R&B is a type of music where I can only listen to it for a little bit before I get sick of it. And when my family plays it, they play it continuously. Here are a couple songs.
“Come and Talk to me”–debut song
“Every Moment”–A song from their 2015 album
Harry Potter
Harry potter is a series of fantasy novels written by British author, J.K. Rowling. The story tells the lives of Harry and his friends, Hermione and Ron. In 2001, the first Harry Potter film was released (which I am certain I saw it in theaters). The last film Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows was released July 2011. In the book, Starr with her two best friends, Natasha and Khalil like to say they are the hood trio, “Tighter than the inside of Voldermort’s nose.”
OTP
OTP is an acronym meaning One True Pairing. It comes from Tumblr and is created by Fandoms. It is typically used to describe two individuals, usually in a work of fiction, who fans think make a good couple. Starr used the acronym to describe her parents.
Black Twitter
Black Twitter is a cultural identity consisting of black twitter users from around the world on the Twitter social network. The users typically use twitter to focus on issues of interest to the black community, mostly in the United States. On Black Twitter there are moment where activism is created, such as #BlackLivesMatter, #SayHerName, and #OscarSoWhite.
Well this concludes my two part Learning About Culture segment for the book, The Hate U Give.
What cultural thing interest you the most?
Facebook / Instagram / Twitter/ Pinterest