The Brief: Choose a creative medium (art, writing, music, film, etc.) to explore The Hate U Give by applying a specific social work theory, showing how that theory helps explain the story’s themes, characters, or real-world impact. My Inspiration: Starr says in The Hate U Give, “Every time I’m whole and back to normal, something happens to tear me apart, and I have to start all over again.” Theory used: Black Feminist Theory • A 3D portrait layered with hand-lettering: Serif lettering / dark red paint for oppression and systems of scars. Copperplate Script and magenta paint for resilience and strength. • Song in B♭ minor: holding the weight of injustice, but rising with hope. Together, they tell a story of survival, resistance, and becoming. I’m calling this project The Hope U Give. It’s a reminder that hope isn’t something abstract. Hope is embodied, layered, and it’s messy. It’s scarred and still standing. And that’s the kind of hope the world needs right now. Original Lyrics by Serena Kramer: They called her too loud, they called her too soft Tried to split her in two, but they never saw the cost Micro cuts in the classroom, silence in the street Yet she rose with the fire that they couldn’t defeat Every scar, every word, written into her skin She carries the weight, but it’s strength from within They said “thug” in the headlines, erased who he was The gavel fell silent, no justice, no cause But she knows the history, the barriers remain So she lifts up Khalil, speaks the truth in his name Every story, every truth, carved into her face Integration is power, she claims her own space The Hope U Give, it blooms from the pain Like roses through concrete, breaking the chain She’s a Black girl standing, her voice won’t fade She’s the hope of tomorrow, her voice is the flame. She knows wrong won’t vanish, the fight’s never done But she plants seeds of right in the light of the sun Her voice is the weapon, her love is the shield And the cracks in the concrete become her field The Hope U Give, it rises from pain Through cracks in the concrete, new life will remain She’s a Black girl standing, with power reclaimed The Hope U Give turns struggle to change