BILL NUMBER: SCR 128	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 27, 2016

INTRODUCED BY    Senator   Mendoza 
 Senators   Mendoza   and Hall 

                        APRIL 6, 2016

   Relative to the Buffalo Soldiers.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SCR 128, as amended, 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  
endeavored  to maintain order between Native Americans and the
 settlers,   settlers arriving in those areas,
 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   the dark curly
appearance of their  hair and the thick coats made from buffalo
hide that  they   these soldiers  wore
during winter, the Native Americans of the Midwestern plains honored
the  soldiers   members  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  during
 the 1898 Spanish-American War and  thereafter  acted
as rangers in Yosemite and Sequoia  national parks; 
 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   24th,  and 25th  regiments
  Regiments  served in Yosemite and nearby Sequoia
 national parks,   National Parks,  with
duties  ranging  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,  Colonel  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   Despite  the
Buffalo Soldiers  wore   wearing  the
uniform of the United States Army,  the performance of
  performing  their duties presented challenges
 to overcome  due to racial prejudice. Buffalo 
soldiers   Soldiers  serving in Yosemite and
Sequoia  national parks   National Parks 
had to fulfill their duties using  perseverance and 
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,   Pursuit
Squadron  the  larger  332nd Fighter "Red Tails" Group,
 and  the 761st Tank Battalion of the 
third Army;   Third Army, plus nearly the entire 92nd
Infantry Division;  and
   WHEREAS, Due to  an executive order  
Executive Order 9981  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,  First Sergeant  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.