BILL NUMBER: AJR 33 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Bonilla and Thurmond
MARCH 7, 2016
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.