African Dodger, a game also known as Hit the Nigger

It's no wonder why America is still divided on the issue of race. All throughout the 1800's and the first half of the 1900's there were blatant racist carnival games that highlighted and exploited white people's hostility toward blacks. White Americans made their aggression and violence seem normal and legitimate.

Games like The African Dodger, also known as Hit the Nigger Baby or Hit the Coon, which used actual human targets, were commonplace in local fairs, carnivals, and circuses. Sometimes a picture or model of an African American was used instead, but the message was clear -- unprovoked evil violent aggression toward blacks was the social norm.

1911 photo of racists people playing a disgraceful game at a carnival. 

In 1911, some carnivals ushered in a new game for the "progressive era" called the African Dip, the precursor to the dunk tank. The game was "arranged that every time a baseball hits the target a colored man, seated upon a bar, is thrown into a large pool of water. It's said to be lots of fun..." ("It's Called", 1911). This new game didn't entirely replace the African Dodger. Versions of the original African Dodger were still found in the 1950s. Some carnivals and fairs decided to use targets that resembled African Americans instead of using real people. Promoters sold entire family doll racks that were used as targets at Amusement parks (A. J. Smith Mfg. Co., 1914). The development of Amusement parks in permanent locations increased the popularity of the African Dip game because it was hard to travel with the African Dip dunk tank. Riverview Amusement park in Chicago Illinois, was well known for their popular African Dip attraction, which was a staple there until the late 1950s.

Fast forward to the 2000's and the police use black teenage boys and men as human moving targets.
Insolent Politics
Source:  Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorablilia

#AmeriCAN: A short film with an uncanny twist at the end that will make one think twice

This is a short film that has an unexpected and uncanny twist at the end that provokes a sense of desolation of a country divided on racial lines. #AmeriCAN is a short film and public service announcement that comes in response to events that have divided Amerikkka over racial lines. The intention of the message, "all lives matter," is to pull people together from both sides of the racial divide and  inspire the kind of empathy and mutual understanding necessary to promote meaningful discourse and domestic reconciliation. The goal is to bring all people together, without exeption to race, religion, gender or age and sends the message that all blood flows red.


Nate Parker - Director/Writer
James Lopez - Producer/Story by
Kay Madsen - Director of Photography
Valerie Bleth Sharp - Producer
Mo McRae - Producer/Actor
Hernany Perla - Producer

Featuring La La Anthony, Andre Royo, Affion Crockett, Brian White, Omar Benson Miller and David Franzoni.
Song by J. Cole - "Be Free".