Page 118 - Purchasing Power Black Kids and American Consumer Culture

Hemmed In and Shut Out . 103

clear by the discussion between Bob and one of his older customers—
aimed in large part at the children who were in the store at the time—
which was an oral narrative focused on themes of slavery and life in the
South that have been passed down for generations in this African Ameri-
can community. A similar encounter in a downtown store like Claire's is
hard to imagine.

Claire's and the Chapel Square Mall
A small store selling inexpensive jewelry and accessories, Claire's is a fa-
vorite destination among Newhallville girls. Racks of earrings are par-
ticularly enticing, since the girls are just on the edge of being allowed to
wear larger hoop earrings, rather than the small studs and drop earrings
caretakers prefer for little girls. They play with the idea of purchasing
jewelry they know their caretakers will disapprove, holding up a pair of
huge, bamboo patterned "door knocker" earrings while proclaiming,
"My grandmother would never let me wear these!" This playful dynamic
is a striking contrast to children's subdued demeanor at Bob's. These
girls' behavior is not limited to playfulness. Kids are often also marked-
ly loud and provoke or anticipate direct and indirect confrontation
with store employees; in some instances kids pointedly ignore sales-
people's concerns or loudly talk about them as if they weren't able to hear.
Children seemed to view these visits not just as an opportunity for en-
joyment and excitement, but as a challenge of sorts as well. One after-
noon as we neared Claire's, Asia recounted her most recent experience
there: "Last time I was in there the lady was laughing because I didn't
have enough money. The other day I went in and I bought all this stuff
and the lady said, 'That will be forty dollars.' I pulled out a fifty-dollar
bill and said, 'Here.'" Asia demonstrated how she slapped the bill down
on the counter, and the look on her face was both self-satisfied and chal-
lenging. "I swear I was about to say 'keep the change' until my grand-
mother came up."
Asia's story captures the pressures many Newhallville kids face in
having to assert their right to be in the mall by demonstrating their abili-
ty to buy. In Asia's story, when she is at first unable to pay for what she
wants, she is sure that the saleslady is laughing at her. As she recounted
the incident, the pleasure she took in later being able to present this
woman with a fifty-dollar bill was palpable, as was her frustration in not
being able to add insult to injury by imperiously directing the woman to
keep the change. Despite this experience, however, Asia apparently did
not consider the possibility of avoiding Claire's or of refusing to go in