Page 106 - Purchasing Power Black Kids and American Consumer Culture

4.

Hemmed In and Shut Out

Natalia and Tionna have entered Claire's, an inexpensive accessory and
jewelry store on the second floor of the downtown mall. It is early De-
cember and the girls are wearing their winter coats unzipped and sagging
backward halfway down their arms, the better to ventilate their over-
heating bodies. They wander throughout the store for more than twenty
minutes, touching everything it seems. They pull earrings off display
racks to look at them; they paw through bins of sale items—flattened
hairbows, bent earhoops, scratched bracelets—holding them up for in-
spection and at times trying them on. They come upon a section of ear-
rings, necklaces, and rings that are adorned with the distinctive squat
bodies, squashy faces, and fluffy hair of Trolls. "They are going too far
with that mess now," Natalia remarks, moving on to a display of key-
chains. Pulling one off the rack, she reads the message printed on the deco-
rative tag in a ringing voice, "If it weren't for boys, I'd quit school." A
moment later she remarks, at an equal volume, "That white lady's fol-
lowing us around." She is referring to one of the store's salesclerks, who
is indeed keeping a close eye on the girls. Though the clerk has undoubt-
edly heard this last remark, she registers no response.
While these girls visit downtown shops like Claire's only infrequently,
neighborhood grocery stores are an almost daily pit stop. In contrast to
the long visits, loud discussion, and sometimes frenetic behavior typical
of these girls' visits to Claire's downtown, their visits to these small gro-
ceries are remarkably quiet and directed. When Natalia and Tionna bustle
into Bob's market one summer afternoon, accompanied by Natalia's
cousin Asia, they settle down after a step or two inside the store, speaking
to each other quietly. They do not handle the merchandise, most of which
is not interesting to them in any case. After scanning the cooler for drinks,

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