Talk:James W. "Catfish" Cole

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THIS PAGE NEEDS TO DELETED

Why?--Auric (talk) 15:44, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

There's no reason to delete this. This is important. I'm from North Carolina and have Lumbee relatives. 75.181.163.26 (talk) 18:28, 24 February 2009 (UTC)

NAACP and NRA

I just edited the section on the Catfish's KKK being defeated by the NAACP and NRA. It was inaccurate and suggested that the NAACP and the NRA gave their blessing to Robert Williams and his group. That is fiction. First of all, the Black Armed Guard was organized by Williams of mostly NAACP members, but was not officially part of the NAACP. Second, the NRA gave the group a charter, but did not know what the group was organized for and didn't even know the race of its members. Williams later stated that they had lied in their application for a charter about their occupations to make themselves "sound more white" in order to secure a charter. I am a historian writing on Williams' lawyer, Conrad Lynn, but if you need documentation of that, see Timothy Tyson's book Radio Free Dixie, the documentary Negroes With Guns, or Stephen Tuck's recent book We Ain't What We Oughta Be. In my research this is an inconsistency I have found all too much by people attempting to portray Williams as an African-American with core conservative values, i.e. trying to claim him as a civil rights activist for the right. That is false. The NRA, in my opinion, would never have given Williams a charter if they knew what he stood for. Also, you don't achieve the title "America's Negro Che Guevara" by being conservative. He was certainly different than a lot of activists and very much an individualist in his personal philosophy, but in his politics he was left-center. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.237.7.164 (talk) 08:16, 29 March 2010 (UTC)

The National Rifle Association is not a racist organization. For decades it has had African-American governing board members, including Roy Innis. In the 60s, past NRA President Charlton Heston marched in civil rights protests in the South. Founded in 1871, and a defender of the civil right to keep and bear arms, the NRA is the oldest civil rights organization in the United States. Lyttle-Wight (talk) 14:49, 26 January 2018 (UTC)