Herb Kohl: “I rise today not only to show my support for S. Res. 39 but also to honor the achievements of Dr. James Cameron, the…”

“I rise today not only to show my support for S. Res. 39 but also to honor the achievements of Dr. James Cameron, the oldest living lynching survivor. Dr. Cameron moved on from his horrific early experience with racial hatred to found America's only Black Holocaust Museum. His life story and work are a source of hope and pride for many survivors of racial violence. Dr. Cameron was born in LaCrosse, WI, in 1914 and moved to Indiana as a teenager. In Indiana, he accompanied two friends involved in an armed robbery that turned to rape and murder. Though Dr. Cameron ran away well before the crime was committed, all three young men were taken to jail. The Ku Klux Klan stormed that jail on August 7, 1930, hung Dr. Cameron's two friends and beat Dr. Cameron severely. Dr. Cameron survived but spent another 6 years in jail for crimes he did not commit. Dr. Cameron has never let us forget the injustice done to him and to too many other victims of lynching and other forms of racial violence. After moving back to his home State of Wisconsin, he founded the Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. This unique museum lays bare our Nation's violent past of racism and slavery. Dr. Cameron's efforts to shine a light on this disturbing aspect of our history have opened the eyes of thousands to the suffering of African-Americans--not only in the age of slavery but also in the decades that followed.…”