The Speaker

The speaker of this poem alternates between narrating scenes as an impassive observer and actively participating in these incidents. It is suggested that the speaker is a woman in the second section when the crowd refers to her as a "nice girl," though it is never made clear how old the speaker is. She is also described as carrying a sign in this section, which establishes her as an active participant in the protests of the civil rights movement.

Though the speaker describes scenes of individuals who are affected by the rampant racial prejudice in the United States, the people in these stories are not always personally known to her. Mostly, she functions as both narrator and active participant in illustrating glaring examples of injustice that were visited on Black citizens (and the white citizens who supported them) during this period of American history.

While it can be reasonably concluded that the speaker might be Alice Walker herself—who was also actively involved in social justice during the civil rights movement—the poem never has any autobiographical accounts that could definitively link the speaker to Walker. She serves as the connecting factor from story to story.

Peter

There are few named characters in the poem, but Peter—the speaker's Jewish friend—is one of them. Peter is characterized as a man who is committed to social justice, in the form of enlightening Southern citizens, by being friendly to law enforcement in different Southern communities. Tragically, the poem implies that Peter, far from achieving his goal, died at young age and wasn't cremated (as was his wish). Even Peter, who sought to preemptively befriend law enforcement, has met an untimely end.

Dick Gregory

The only other named character appears in section nine when the speaker describes how different people responded to the statement that the "South would rise again." This phrase refers to the reinstatement of a pre-Civil War (slave-owning) South. Dick Gregory was a well-known figure during this era as a comedian and social activist who used his comedy to draw attention to and satirize bigotry and racism. In this section, his response to the South rising again is that, if it does, there must be "a / secret / plan."

The Man Arrested for Indecent Exposure

A man who was arrested for indecent exposure is openly defiant of racist social conventions—stating in his own trial that his black skin is beautiful. He swam naked at a whites-only beach in one of the previous sections of the poem: this is where he explains his behavior.

A Friend of the Speaker’s

One of the speaker's friends is in an interracial relationship, for which she receives a scathing letter from her mother, and she seems resigned to her family's hateful bigotry. Her mother eventually passes away.

The Man with Amber Eyes

The man with amber eyes is white and is described in vague terms as the first white person that the speaker actually liked.

Law Enforcement

Additionally, throughout the poem members of the law enforcement feature prominently—explicitly and implicitly—as figures who perpetuate the injustice of segregation.