California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 33

Introduced by Assembly Members Bonilla and Thurmond

March 7, 2016

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 33—Relative to the Port Chicago 50.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AJR 33, as introduced, Bonilla. Port Chicago disaster: African American Sailors of the United States Navy.

This measure would respectfully urge the recognizition that the trial and conviction of the 50 African American sailors of the United States Navy for mutiny in connection with their service at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in Concord, California, during World War II were wrongfully pursued because of racial prejudice and respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to publicly exonerate those 50 African American sailors of the United States Navy in order to further aid in healing the racial divide that continues to exist in the United States.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, The deadliest home-front disaster of World War
II occurred at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in Concord,
California, on July 17, 1944, when an explosion at the naval facility
killed or wounded 710 people, 435 of whom were African
American; and

WHEREAS, This single disaster accounted for more than 15
percent of all African American naval casualties during World
War II; and

WHEREAS, After the disaster, 258 African American survivors
of the explosion refused to resume the loading and unloading of
ammunition at the naval facility, citing inadequate training and
the use of unsafe practices; and

WHEREAS, According to a United States Navy report, “the
actual work of loading ammunition and explosives aboard the ships
was performed exclusively by Afro-Americans under the
supervision of white officers and Afro-American petty officers”
and “the routine assignment of Afro-American enlisted personnel
to manual labor was clearly motivated by race and premised upon
the mistaken notion that they were intellectually inferior and thus
incapable of meeting the same standards as their white
counterparts”; and

WHEREAS, One of the ships was loaded with around 4,600
tons of ammunition and high explosives, some of which weighed
650 pounds with activating mechanisms or fuses installed; and

WHEREAS, At that time there was no formal training in safe
methods of ammunition handling given to enlisted men, and the
United States Navy failed to adequately provide these men with
the tools necessary to operate under safe working conditions, even
after the explosion occurred; and

WHEREAS, Weeks before the explosion, the longshoremen’s
union warned the United States Navy that there would be a disaster
if the Navy continued to use untrained seamen to load ammunition
and offered to send experienced longshoremen to train Navy
recruits in safe handling of ammunition, but this offer from the
union was ignored by the United States Navy; and

WHEREAS, Subsequent research has confirmed the use of
unsafe ammunition loading methods at the naval facility at the
time and has recognized the existence of pervasive racial prejudice
in the United States Navy during World War II; and

WHEREAS, As documented in the book “The Port Chicago
Mutiny” by Dr. Robert L. Allen, a worker described Port Chicago
as a “slave outfit,” adding that “we were considered a cheap labor
force from the beginning”; and

WHEREAS, White officers would encourage African American
sailors to compete while loading ammunition and explosives while
those officers placed bets among themselves; and

WHEREAS, Following the explosion, many of the African
American survivors expected to be granted survivors’ leave before
being reassigned to regular duty, but that leave was not granted,
even for those who had been hospitalized, and all African American
men were sent back to work loading ammunition under the same
officers as before; and

WHEREAS, White officers were permitted to go home for
30-day leaves; and

WHEREAS, Fifty sailors of the United States Navy, all African
American men, ultimately were tried and convicted of mutiny for
failing to obey orders to resume loading activities; and

WHEREAS, A mutiny is active revolt with the intent of taking
charge, but a refusal to work is a passive act of resistance without
intent to seize power; and

WHEREAS, Thurgood Marshall, then a chief counsel for the
NAACP, was reported to state he saw no reason why the men
should be tried for mutiny, which implies a mass conspiracy, rather
than on lesser charges of individual subordination and blasted the
trial by stating that the defendants were being tried for mutiny
“solely because of their race and color”; and

WHEREAS, The United States Navy has concluded that there
can be “no doubt that racial prejudice was responsible for the
posting of Afro-American enlisted personnel to the loading
divisions at Port Chicago,” and similar racial prejudicial bias has
been documented in the conduct of the trial that resulted in the
court-martial of the sailors at Port Chicago; and

WHEREAS, Virtually all of the convicted sailors were released
from prison early in 1946 and were given a general discharge from
the Navy “under honorable conditions,” and the United States
Navy announced at the time that race would no longer be a factor
in filling its jobs; and

WHEREAS, In 1999, Freddie Meeks was pardoned by President
Bill Clinton in recognition of the injustice he suffered as one of
the convicted sailors, and at the time of his pardon, Mr. Meeks
said, “After all these years, the world should know what happened
at Port Chicago. It should be cleared up that we did not commit
mutiny, and we were charged with that because of our race”; and

WHEREAS, In 2003, the National Park Service dedicated the
Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial at the disaster
site, which serves not only as a tribute to the 320 men who died
in that World War II explosion, but also as an acknowledgment
of that event as the touchstone for desegregation in the military
and the beginning of civil rights for all Americans; and

WHEREAS, In a July 17, 2014, letter recognizing the 70th
anniversary of the tragedy, President Barack Obama acknowledged
the African American sailors at Port Chicago, stating, “Faced with
tremendous obstacles, they fought on two fronts - for freedom
abroad and equality at home”; and

WHEREAS, All of the sailors involved in the Port Chicago
cases have passed away, but their family members and friends
continue to request that the sailors be cleared of all charges; now,
therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature respectfully urges the
recognition that the trial and conviction of the 50 African American
sailors of the United States Navy for mutiny in connection with
their service at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in Concord,
California, during World War II were wrongfully pursued because
of racial prejudice, as evidenced by the racial bias in the United
States Navy’s original findings in their cases and the different
treatment afforded to the convicted sailors’ white counterparts and
officers; and be it further

Resolved, That the Legislature respectfully urges the Congress
of the United States to publicly exonerate the 50 African American
sailors of the United States Navy who were convicted of mutiny
in connection with their service at the Port Chicago Naval
Magazine in Concord, California, during World War II in order
to further aid in healing the racial divide that continues to exist in
the United States; and be it further

Resolved, That the Legislature respectfully urges the Congress
of the United States to take action to retroactively convert the
general discharge granted to each of the 50 African American
sailors to an honorable discharge; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the President and the Vice President of the
United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to
the Majority Leader of the Senate, to each Senator and
Representative from California in the Congress of the United
States.