“Chagrin” by Alan W. King

Alan W. King

CHAGRIN

When security escorts a woman

back to the register, you hear

other shoppers whispering

their speculations—the alarm’s

tone before plainclothes officers

flank her at the door, their hands

beckoning to come with them.

And does it matter that

you both are among the few

African Americans in a department

store that once forced Blacks

to shop in the basement, and where

Jim Crow banned your elders from

the dressing rooms? Can all

the civil rights marches and integration

keep you from flinching

at how one of your own

is handled—the officers

jerking their suspect around,

the woman shouting

for them to take their hands

off her. And afterwards,

will anything make this right

again—the gift cards

or the cashier’s apology

after waving the receipt,

explaining she forgot to

disarm the anti-theft device?

—from Rattle #31, Summer 2009
Tribute to African American Poets

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Alan W. King: “During the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, I interviewed several people who lived through the 1968 unrest in Baltimore. The unrest hit other cities—including Washington, D.C., and Detroit—but I was working on a news story for Baltimore as a reporter with the Afro-American newspaper. Even before the burning and looting of businesses, there was racial tension in the segregated city. While department stores like Kohl’s and Hecht’s allowed Blacks to shop there, they had to do so in the basement. They couldn’t even try on the clothes before they bought them because the dressing rooms were off-limits. I wrote ‘Chagrin’ after several people I interviewed, most of them over 60 years old, believed that the tension was a major catalyst.” (web)