Alex Kotlowitz's book, The Other Side of the River, is a journalist's investigation of the death of Eric McGinnis, a Michigan black youth of 16 years. His body was found in the river that separates the poor black town of Benton Harbor from the wealthy white town of St. Joseph. While the motive and explanation of Eric's death are left unresolved, each of the "Twin Cities" argue their beliefs of cause, fact and racial discrimination are both questionable.
Reading The Other Side of the River might enlarge a white person's perspective of the unofficial discrimination and segregation that still continues in the United States. A white person, especially living in a generally wealthy suburb like Summit, never confronted with economic need or discrimination, tends to be insensitive to discriminatory situations that many blacks face everyday. Kotlowitz's case study presents a black world so different from that which white people live, that they might wonder how their own race could be so unjust. Another white person, constantly taunting a black simply due to his skin color, might realize where his actions could ultimately lead. Or, other whites may read the novel and complain that their race is the common scapegoat for an unresolved death of a black person. Kotlowitz, however, as a journalist, reports the case in an unbiased manner, without faulting a specific race for Eric McGinnis" death, but he leaves the reader to ponder the problem and causes of racial discrimination. After reading this novel, a white person might think about one adjustment she or he would personally make in order to improve racial and economic relations in the community.
In general, most people of color in the United States live with obvious or covert discrimination on a daily basis. Because the victim of this investigation was black, many blacks might initially assume that the cause of Eric's death was a murder by a white person, and some might continue to believe this without question, being reminded of the constant sources of discrimination.
