BILL NUMBER: SCR 128	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Mendoza

                        APRIL 6, 2016

   Relative to the Buffalo Soldiers.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SCR 128, as introduced, Mendoza. The Buffalo Soldiers.
   This measure would honor the Buffalo Soldiers for changing the
face of the United States Armed Forces forever through their record
of unique accomplishments.
   Fiscal committee: no.



   WHEREAS, On July 28, 1866, by an act of the United States
Congress, African American men were allowed to join the post-Civil
War army in special segregated units -- the 9th and 10th Cavalry
Regiments of the United States Army; and
   WHEREAS, Comprised of former slaves, freemen, and black Civil War
soldiers, the Buffalo Soldiers were the first African Americans to
serve in the United States Army during peacetime. During the latter
period of the nineteenth century, the soldiers of the 9th and 10th
Cavalry Regiments were assigned to Fort Riley, Kansas, and other
areas of the Midwest, where they helped to maintain order between
Native Americans and the settlers, built forts and roads, patrolled
borders, and protected mail coaches and railroad construction crews;
and
   WHEREAS, Out of respect for their courage and fighting spirit, as
well as for their dark curly hair and the thick coats made from
buffalo hide that they wore during winter, the Native Americans of
the Midwestern plains honored the soldiers of the 9th and 10th
Cavalry Regiments with the nickname of "Buffalo Soldiers"; and
   WHEREAS, When the Indian Wars ended in the 1890s, the Buffalo
Soldiers went on to fight in Cuba in the 1898 Spanish-American War
and acted as rangers in Yosemite and Sequoia national parks; and
   WHEREAS, The Buffalo Soldiers of the regular African American army
regiments were among the first to serve as park rangers in the newly
created National Park Service; and
   WHEREAS, Approximately 500 Buffalo Soldiers from the 9th, 10th,
24th and 25th regiments served in Yosemite and nearby Sequoia
national parks, with duties from evicting poachers and timber thieves
to extinguishing forest fires; and
   WHEREAS, The accomplishments of the Buffalo Soldiers as park
rangers include building the first trail to the top of Mount Whitney
in Sequoia National Park, building the first arboretum in Yosemite
National Park, and clearing miles of trails and building roads into
the national parks for visitor enjoyment; and
   WHEREAS, Charles Young, the third African American graduate of
West Point, served as acting military superintendent of Sequoia
National Park in 1903; and
   WHEREAS, Even though the Buffalo Soldiers wore the uniform of the
United States Army, the performance of their duties presented
challenges due to racial prejudice. Buffalo soldiers serving in
Yosemite and Sequoia national parks had to fulfill their duties using
diplomacy; and
   WHEREAS, During World War II, members of the Buffalo Soldiers
branched out and formed into famous units, including the 24th and
25th Infantry Divisions, the famed Tuskegee Airmen that included the
99th Fighter (Pursuit) Group, the 332nd Fighter "Red Tails" Group,
and the 761st Tank Battalion of the third Army; and
   WHEREAS, Due to an executive order issued in 1948 by President
Harry Truman eliminating racial segregation and discrimination in the
United States Armed Forces, the last all-black units disbanded
during the first half of the 1950s, and, in 2005, the nation's oldest
living Buffalo Soldier, Mark Matthews, passed away in Washington,
D.C., at 111 years of age; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature honors the Buffalo Soldiers
for changing the face of the United States Armed Forces forever
through their record of unique accomplishments, which testify to
their skill, discipline, integrity, and heroism, and recognizes and
thanks their families and descendants for sharing an inspiring legacy
that speaks to the sense of excellence, potential, and patriotism
shared by all Americans; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.