Talk:Camp Van Dorn Slaughter

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One death a day while serving in Alaska, come on. 2000 out of 3000 men died - the massacre must have larger than 1200 or there were some bloody battles in the Aleutians. 75.68.248.198 (talk) 02:13, 23 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

This appeared to be an incomplete or misleading summary of the DOD report on Camp Van Dorn. Other sources (see below) did not find Case's book credible because he had so little supporting facts.

Editing

This article is poorly written and does not make use of factual material from sources, nor acknowledge the lack of documentation by Case. I have started to edit it, but believe it needs to be completely reworked, from the title on. There has been no substantiation of a massacre at Camp Van Dorn. Well before the Army issued its report, the National Minority Military Museum Foundation of Oakland, CA, which supports better awareness of black military history, conducted its own investigation and also concluded that Case’s claim is “not sufficiently supported by historical documentation.” James O. Clifford, Associated Press, 14 February 1999 (LA Times).Parkwells (talk) 18:26, 11 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Issues

No "slaughter" has been documented and there is considerable evidence against it. Article needs a new name.
There are multiple issues - actions by 364th members, as covered in Clifford's AP article (Feb 1999) carried in the LA Times;
social conditions of the Jim Crow South and local town; and
accounts of specific violence in summer 1943, much more limited than suggested by Case.

The article says the event is "alleged" but begins to discuss it as if it took place. This seems inappropriate for an alleged account covered in a self-published book, which does not count as a Reliable Source in Wiki MOS. Among other sources, the Washington Post noted huge gaps in Case's account, and the inability to find corroborating accounts, although thousands of soldiers were serving at the base at the time, including thousands more in the 364th. Yes, the US has had a history of racial violence, but this article is unbalanced by lack of reliable sources that present alternative information to Case's book, which he acknowledges is half fiction. Parkwells (talk) 20:25, 11 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]