Down here at the pawn shop

[DanaC]

Might be class antagonism rather than race, though. The pawnshop represents the barrel a lot of people are over in life. It's also a lot of people's saviour in the short term. The people on the lowest incomes, are the ones that can't get credit and don't have a cash float. Doesn't mean they don't resent the business that is 'getting rich' off their backs :p

Also, I think there's a historically ingrained sense of suspicion between those that offer pawning and those that have recourse to it. That the customers are often black and the pawn shop is owned and staffed by white people probably just adds an extra edge.