Page 194 - Purchasing Power Black Kids and American Consumer Culture

Conclusion . 179

toys) as innate and firm, something made especially clear in their doings
with their white dolls. But while putting braids on a blonde doll can bend
the boundaries of race, and Carlos's comments about black Barbies can
challenge the logic of racial categories, these are not commentaries that
take place outside of the pressures exerted by the very racism and social
inequality about which they speak. Neither do these commentaries, gen-
erated as they are by poor, young, marginalized kids, provide much hope
of substantially transforming racism, sexism, economic inequality or the
place of children in American society. But the meaningfulness and power
of what these kids say and do should not be measured solely by their
ability to transform a world that gives them only meager breathing
space. The fact that these commentaries exist at all is a measure of their
strength; the fact that they often exist briefly and subtly is a sign of their
fragility. These moments are like pinpricks in a large piece of paper: in-
visible from a distance, but if you put your eye close upon it, you can get
a pretty good view of what's on the other side. Tiny vistas opening onto
possibility. Taking account of such tiny vistas has long been the work of
anthropologists. Enlarging them is work for all of us.