Great Escape
‘The Hate U Give’ Author Angie Thomas on Moving to a Gated Community as a Young Black Woman
The verdict so far? Mixed.
Last year, Angie Thomas, author of the bestselling young adult novel The Hate U Give, moved to suburban Jackson, Mississippi, with her mother. Her reasons were twofold. One, the book — which follows the political awakening of a black, 16-year-old girl who witnesses the murder of her unarmed friend at the hands of a police officer — gave her the means to do so. And, two, Thomas wanted to get away — get a little space, peace and quiet, and a greater degree of safety than her old neighborhood could not offer.
Thomas didn’t just move to the suburbs. She moved into a gated community: a slice of that booming sector of residential development historically known for being overwhelmingly white. In doing so, she experienced some culture shock. “My neighborhood is really two neighborhoods,” she says. “Like you come into a gate to get into my neighborhood and then there’s another neighborhood gated off inside the gate.” She laughs. “Which is like: Are you guys that paranoid?”
This is a beautiful neighborhood, and yes, everyone seems nice, but there is an underlying threat for a young black man…
