Racism and the Criminal Justice System

Fowler, who is a white author writing about anti-black racism, interweaves commentary on race and racism throughout the novel, revealing its foundational importance to Valerie and Xavier’s life experience. Valerie is acutely aware of her and Xavier’s race and its effect on their lives, noting how it affects her dating life, how it affected her decision to move to North Carolina, and how it fills her with fear that Xavier will be stopped by the police. Valerie tells Xavier, “this country’s only partly integrated” (121). While Xavier tells Valerie “Nobody cares” about race anymore, he also is constantly reminded of being black, not only by Valerie but by his friends, who also doubt that Brad would approve of Juniper dating a black boy (121).

Fowler uses extreme hatred and micro-aggressions to suggest that racism still exists in many forms in...