How does the police investigation of Ruthy’s disappearance serve as a symbol for racial discrimination in the novel, What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez?

The author utilizes the police investigation of Ruthy’s disappearance as a symbol for racial discrimination. When the officers investigate the thirteen year old’s disappearance, they question her father and later suggest that she had a dysfunctional homelife. Instead of examining her disappearance as a case of predation and femicide, the officers do limited investigative work. Jiménez asks her reader to question how the criminal justice system overlooks victims who are not white.