The Hate U Give Trailer Is A Devastating Look At Police Brutality

Angie Thomas's heartbreakingly topical YA novel, The Hate U Give, debuted at the best of The New York Times' Young Adult best-seller list early last year. The book is an exposed nerve, tackling issues like police brutality, racial profiling, and the Black Lives Matter movement by way of the eyes of a teen girl named Starr Carter.


Right now, the initial trailer for the anticipated big-screen adaptation is finally here, also it looks every bit as moving as its source material.


Actor and activist Amandla Stenberg steps into the role of Starr, a 16-year-old caught between two worlds — the prosperous, mostly white high school in which she attends and Garden Heights, the poor, predominantly black neighborhood where she's from. Her prep school companions, including her caring boyfriend Chris (played by Riverdale's KJ Apa), only visualize one side of Starr, or Starr 2.0, as Stenberg explains in the trailer, and she's cautious not to "give anyone a reason to call her ghetto" once she's at Williamson.


Nevertheless her double life is shattered any time while she witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend, Khalil (Algee Smith), by a white policeman. Khalil, like so several of the real-life black men who inspired Thomas's tale, was unarmed. In the aftermath of Khalil's tragic death, and facing pressure from her community, it's up to Starr to find her voice and stand up for what's right.


The film also stars Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, Issa Rae, Sabrina Carpenter, Normal, and Anthony Mackie.


Directed by George Tillman, Jr., The Hate U Give hits theaters October 19.