Racial tensions and inequality within justice are apparent during the nineties due to accounts of police brutality to African Americans. This novel takes place in two Michigan cities, ironically named the twin cities although they could not be any more opposite. Benton Harbor is predominantly black, “dirt poor”, with drug affiliated gangs, and abandoned stores. In opposition, St. Josephs is a tourist attraction with its mall, stores, beaches, and amusement parks. In the book, it mentions two bridges as being the only connection of the two fraternal cities. The title “the other side of the river” emphasizes on the fact that racism is treated as being a two-way street in the way the people in each city view the other. Racial tensions in Alex Kotlowitz’s, “the other side of the river”, in relation to assessing meaning, social audiences, and contest over meaning…show more content… It is an assigned reaction, mostly its based from society or the social construct built on how people view things. Meaning is given to any and everything that is subjective. They differentiate based on experiences of different groups because they have different perspectives. Meanings come from a groups interests, their beliefs, their professional roles, and customs. In the novel, the detective interacts with various cases, one of them being an incident with a little girl. A potential suspect, Kevin hall, a black male heroin addict, who did not even remotely match the sketch is being profiled for the charge. Due to the circumstances in which he came by the church occasionally begging and has a few petty crimes in his past, he is assigned the title or meaning of a dangerous child molester by the people of St. joseph. It is easy for the predominantly white society to paint Kevin hall as a monster because he comes from across the way in Benton harbor. This is caused by the racial tension between the cities and their
