The Young Stars of ‘The Hate U Give’ Film on Police Brutality & Code Switching As Black Males

Code-switching and police brutality are two realities that too many Black Males are forced to face. In the upcoming movie, The Hate U Give a teenaged girl (Amandla Stenberg) witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend (Algee Smith) at the hands of a police officer. These issues are at the center of the film. The film’s young stars Algee Smith, Lamar Johnson, and TJ Wright, who play Stenburg’s brothers in the film, visited Studio One to talk about how they deal with code-switching between race and class and the subject of police brutality in their personal and professional lives. The Hate U Give, which stars Amandla Stenberg, Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby and also features Common, Anthony Mackie, and Issa Rae, is in theaters nationwide on October 19th.