The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Starr has watched two of her best friends die. When she was ten, there was nothing she could do, but at 16 and as the witness of Khalil murder during a traffic stop, she has a chance to do something. But as too often happens when a white cop shoots a black man, the victim is vilified and the cop is let off. This is the story of a community that will not be silenced. This is the story of the world we face today because too little has changed in the three years since this book was published. Angie Thomas writes a stunning and heartbreaking story only made more heartbreaking by the fact that this is the world we live in. Where cops can kill Black people without ever facing consequences and where Black people are expected to accept this abuse quietly in the hopes that maybe they won't be murdered as well. This is the world we live in. This is the world we must change.

If you don't like nonfiction or have other aversions to reading about racism in America, read this book. Angie Thomas has done the emotional labor of trying to make people understand the systemic racism that African Americans face, all you have to do is read. This is the world we live in and this is the world we must fight to change. 

Black Lives Matter. Support Black creators and businesses. Listen to their stories. Use your privilege to help the movement. Read this book and others like it. 

Stay safe and know that you are loved.

XO, Ellen