Nothing nastier than a white person!
She mutters as she irons alterations
in the backroom of Charlotte's Dress Shoppe.
The steam rising from a cranberry wool
The introductory line, in italics and therefore the words of the speaker, convey the main theme; racism. It is declarative and assertive and needs no explanation. The reader may assume that the speaker is black and bluntly spoken.
The Great Palaces of Versailles