Gun show vendor defends ‘Runnin' N****r’ targets: ‘There are black people, then there are Negroes’

theGRIO REPORT - The Collector’s Classic Gun Show in Sioux Falls, North Dakota, banned a vendor after he "snuck in" racist pictures to be used as target practice.

theGrio featured stories

The Collector’s Classic Gun Show in Sioux Falls, North Dakota, banned a vendor after he “snuck in” racist pictures to be used as target practice.

The targets, sold for 10 cents each, depicted the silhouette of a cartoonish black man with “Official RUNNIN’ N****R Target” written across the top.

When confronted by a KSFY photographer, the vendor insisted that there was nothing wrong.

“Why are those on there?” the photographer asked.

“Why aren’t they? They’re just targets,” the vendor replied.

“Aren’t they offensive in nature?” the photographer pressed.

“To who?” the vendor said. “Are you Negro? You know, there are some black people, and then there are some Negroes.” He went on to say that he had “sold 500 of them this weekend. So what difference does it make?”

Bob Campbell, the gun show organizer, said that he immediately banned the vendor from that show and any future events when he heard what was going on.

“I take pride in the work I do and the quality of the shows I put out,” he said. “And I’m very disappointed, disgusted to see what was on that table.”

“I was not aware it was there or it would have been gone,” he added. “I expect that I will not see it again at any of the other Dakota territory shows.”

Mentioned in this article:

More About: