The Hate U Give

 

Maverick Carter is a man who cares for his family and his community as a whole. A key example of the prior is sending Starr and Seven to Williamson, where they can get a better education so that they can achieve the best life possible. He gives back to his community through his employment of former gang members, like Khalil and DeVante. Although the two are very different, these two characters echo each other and reflect Maverick’s guilt about Khalil’s death. 

While in a fight with Lisa, Maverick explains how he wants to stay in Garden Heights because he wants to help change his community for the better: “Let’s say we move...Then what? We just like all the other sellouts who leave and turn their backs on the neighborhood. We can change stuff around here,” (180). Maverick does this by employing Khalil and DeVante at his store, and while this may be a pessimistic viewpoint, a major reason that Maverick is so insistent on this and hires DeVante is that he feels as if he failed to save Khalil. 

When DeVante first starts working at the store, he constantly reminds Starr of Khalil. When she sees him in the store uniform, “There’s a pang in my [Starr’s] chest. Khalil wore one too,” (195). Starr is pained because DeVante’s situation mirrors Khalil’s so closely. With that in mind, Maverick likely hurts for the same reason. He worked so hard to get Khalil on the right track, and to be able to provide for himself and his family in a safe and legal way, but Khalil died, nonetheless. Because of this, when Maverick learns about DeVante having wronged the King Lords, he immediately takes him to Carlos at the first sign of danger. With the thought of death fresh on his mind, he knows that just giving him a job is not always enough. Maverick goes beyond what he provided Khalil to assure Devante’s safety. 

It is worth noting, however, that Maverick ultimately did save Khalil. While King tries to mark his corpse with a gray bandana, showing his loyalty to the King Lords, DeVante assures Starr that it was just for show. In reality, Khalil got out of the King Lords and turned a new leaf. Also, at the funeral, Starr remembers how Khalil “had green in his car. That’s what Garden Disciples do,” (132). Not only was he no longer involved in gang matters, but he customized his car against their rules to spite both groups, making it look affiliated with one when he left the other. 

Khalil’s death unsurprisingly has a profound emotional impact on the Carter family, especially Starr and Maverick. DeVante’s desire to turn his life around reminds Starr, and in turn Maverick, about their loss. They help him like they helped Khalil, but, with Khalil as a reminder that just a job is not always enough, they work hard to get him the safety that he needs.