Talk:James Cameron (activist)

"falsely accused of participating in (a) murder"?

According to some sources, it does not seem so clear that Cameron was falsely accused. Indeed, at least based on this Washington Post article (which is in fact quite sympathetic to Cameron), it seems that Cameron did in fact participate in the attempted robbery of Claude Deeter, who was shot by one of Cameron's companion during the incident--a fact that would make him equally liable for Deeter's homicide under the felony murder provisions of most U.S. jurisdictions, regardless of whether or not Cameron realized that his associate had a gun:

Cameron was 16 years old on Aug. 7, 1930, when he and two buddies, Thomas Shipp, 18, and Abram Smith, 19, happened onto a lover's lane in Marion. According to Cameron, one of the others decided to rob a white couple as they sat in a car. Unknown to him, one of the friends had brought a gun, he said.

One of the young men opened the car door, Cameron recognized the white man, Claude Deeter, 23, and decided to leave. As he ran away, he heard a shot. Deeter was killed. Hours after the slaying, a mob came for Cameron and dragged him to jail.

While even murder does not justify vigilante justice or lynching, of course; and while Mr. Cameron may well have later accomplished positive works; that does not make his involvement in the Deeter murder any less factual (if indeed it is factual).

So, in view of possibly conflicting sources on this issue, I think what would be needed here is an authoritative source that clearly states that Cameron was not involved in Deeter's homicide, before an assertion is made in the article that he was not involved or was falsely accused.

• Addendum:

This article from the Atlanta Daily World also appears to clearly state that Cameron did in fact participate in the homicide of Deeter:

According to Cameron, he was 16 when he survived an attempted lynching in Marion, Wis., almost 75 years ago. He had been with two friends that decided to rob a man in a parked car.

One of his friends gave him the gun, but when Cameron saw that the White man, Claude Deeter, was a friend that he knew and even had shined his shoes, he gave the gun back and bolted. Cameron said he heard shots as he fled. Only later did he find out what had happened; police arrested him and charged him with killing Deeter. They also said that Deeter's girlfriend had been raped.

Also, this USA Today article recounts Cameron's own admission to having held the gun in an agreement to commit a robbery (while claiming to have later fled):

Cameron, who has often told his lynching story, has always maintained his innocence. He says two older black friends gave him a gun to use in a robbery of a white man. When Cameron recognized Claude Deeter as a regular shoeshine customer, he dropped the gun and ran.

--Ryanaxp 15:18, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

The source quoted above is accurate (according to a video I just saw of him recounting the events almost verbatim from the first quote above). While Cameron has maintained his innocence, he fully admits to being on the scene and holding the gun on the man. Does that make him innocent? Maybe. He was only 16, but in the eyes of the law he would be an accessory. Of course that doesn't justify what happened at all. But we also shouldn't be afraid to state the truth for fear of offending someone. The facts are the facts, and James Cameron shouldn't be writing his own article.

Should Be Main James Cameron?

More famous than the movie director? Probably not, but wanted to make sure. Does it matter than he's more "important"? No, right?

Well, I don't know if he's more famous than the movie director (whom I personally had never heard of until today), but I think you should request that this should be the main James Cameron article, what do you think? TamYum 20:45, 11 June 2006 (UTC)

The film director is a three-time Academy Award winner and the director of the highest-grossing film of all time... I believe that's a bit more notable. BoojiBoy 03:57, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

Of course he's not more famous than the film director, at least in the day and age of Titanic.

AP Article Says...

That a man professed his innocence and that is why he survived. Is that true? Add to article?

Yes, I think it should be added, because I, too, read that in more than one article. TamYum 20:46, 11 June 2006 (UTC)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060611/ap_on_re_us/obit_cameron

Native of La Crosse, Wisconsin

Museum title

The museum is called "America's Black Holocaust Museum" -- so shouldn't the title of this article have the full title in the parentheses?

Not necessarily. Title is just to distinguish him from James Cameron the film director.

plagiarized?

Much of this article seems to have been copied word-for-word from his biography on the Black Holocaust Museum website.

== I don't about that. I just looked at the link up above and while I don't have the article in front of me, I don't feel that the article was copied word for word from this website. (I was not the original author, incidentally). The biography on the Black Holocaust Museum website does not mention his life after 1993 or anything about his family. There is no mention of his death but I imagine that should be included soon.

I remember that I did edits for grammar and cut out a lot redundant sentences and words. I also added the information about his wife and children, as well as the documentary that aired on PBS, which is where I first saw his story. I also identified the two friends that were lynched and added the cite, which included the photo of the two. I also created sub headings for the article.

If the article in fact was deemed to have been plagiarized, then I hope that someone will replace it with one that does not violate the policy. Ladydayelle 19:09, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

I just read the bio on the museum website and also can see that the original article was copied from there. I had already made a number of changes based on the WA Post obit, so think it should be ok.--Parkwells (talk) 19:58, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

I started the stub of the present article, because the previous article was deleted because the previous article was plagarized. I kept the stub short so others could added/edited to the article. Thank you-RFD (talk) 11:09, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

That was a good approach - the article now relies on many sources other than the museum website. It's an interesting story - he worked all his life, reared a family and worked to make the world better. I stumbled on to it while looking at museums about African American life, many small grassroots efforts outside of the big cities. Louisiana now recognizes some of them as sites on its Louisiana African American Heritage Trail. Each has a slightly different slant.--Parkwells (talk) 11:47, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

Black Holocaust Museum

This page should be linking to the page on this museum. 65.113.212.40 (talk) 15:53, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

America's Black Holocaust Museum

is the official name of the museum, and the name of the Wikipedia article. There are links within the James Cameron article to the museum, both in the text (lead paragraph) and at the image. In addition, in "External links" a the bottom of the page is a link directly to the museum.--Parkwells (talk) 16:50, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

Really Lynched?

I feel the article itself is somewhat ambigious as to whether or not he was actually hanged. If he was, then it should say so explicitly, but as it reads now, it's gray. Furthermore, if he was actually hanged, then some more actual explanation of the incident is required. Did the rope break? Was the crowd dispersed? I don't want to detract from the man's good deeds, but I read the article because it was first mentioned in the "did you know?" section, and I feel overall the article is really biased to paint him in a good light.Supergirl79 (talk) 17:19, 22 July 2008 (UTC)Supergirl79

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