Race Riot (1968)

Race Riot came at a time where Hanson's work concerned itself primarily with a strong moral and social conscience. The image above is the original and completed Race Riot, which due to fire has all but been lost. What still exists is sculpture to the left, known, and exhibited now as Policeman and Rioter.

Although an incredibly striking sculpture that brings to light the issues of police brutality and racism, Policeman and Rioter loses the initial impact and context of Race Riot. In Policeman and Rioter we see a young African American lying, defenseless on the ground whilst a helmeted police officer kicks him and prepares to hit him with a baton like weapon.

The attire of the African American man can be seen to refer back to the image of slavery creating an image of both modern and historical African American oppression.

If we look at Race Riot again, we see an image with a similar, yet differing attitude to that of Policeman and Rioter. The most striking difference is that the violence is two sided within Race Riot. We see two African American figures brandishing weapons including a machete (another reference to agricultural slavery?). The image we are given then is an image of war, as opposed to solely an image of African American opression and we ask ourselves who's the real winner when a fight for freedom becomes a bloody battle?