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Officer Bell, the policeman who pursues Fonny, arrests him on false charges, and convinces Victoria that Fonny was her rapist, represents the power of the racist systems of American society to control the lives of Black people. While the story takes place in the 20th century, the book argues that Black people’s lives, bodies, and even movements are still controlled as if slavery had never ended, which is part of the book’s theme of the corruption at the foundation of America. The text compares Bell to American heroes John Wayne and George Washington, his blue eyes blank like Washington’s, eyes that will seek to eradicate any Black figure marring the snowy white landscape behind them. Bell himself appears in the book in only two scenes: his initial confrontation with Fonny at the vegetable stand and when he encounters Tish coming home from work. However, just as Tish begins seeing him everywhere after he first tries to arrest Fonny, he lurks as a menacing figure throughout the book, both on the streets looking for Tish and Fonny and as a subject of conversation in Hayward’s office. As such, Officer Bell symbolizes the inescapable and oppressive system working against the main characters.
