The Navy on Wednesday discharged 256 black sailors believed to have been unfairly punished in 1944 after a deadly explosion at the California port revealed racial disparities in the military, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said. announced.
The explosion, which occurred exactly 80 years ago on July 17, 1944, at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine outside San Francisco, killed 320 people and injured another 400 when munitions loaded on a cargo ship detonated.
After the explosions, white supervising officers at the Port of Chicago were placed on hardship leave, while surviving black sailors—at the time barred from nearly all maritime employment in a segregated force—were ordered back to work, cleaning up wreckage and removing debris. critical world humans. World War II ammunition supply site.
Because it was not yet known what caused the explosion and no changes were made to improve safety, 258 black sailors refused to resume handling munitions. The Navy threatened disciplinary action, after which 208 of the men returned to work, but the service later convicted all 208 in a summary court-martial for disobeying orders.
The other 50 sailors, who became known as the “Port Chicago 50,” were charged and convicted of mutiny in a mass general court martial. Each was dishonorably discharged, forced to give up their pay, and sent to prison.
Thurgood Marshall, the first black justice on the Supreme Court, at the time defended the 50 sailors as defense counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
“The Port Chicago 50 and the hundreds who supported them may not be with us today, but their story lives on, a testament to the enduring power of courage and the unwavering pursuit of justice,” Del Toro said in a statement. “They represent a beacon of hope, forever reminding us that even in the face of overwhelming adversity, the fight for what is right can and will prevail.”
After the Navy general counsel’s office reviewed the case, it found that there were “significant legal errors during the courts-martial” and that the defendants were “improperly tried together despite competing interests, and were denied a meaningful right to a attorney”.
Furthermore, the courts-martial occurred before the finalization of a Navy report on the explosion, which “would have informed its defense and contained nineteen substantive recommendations for improving munitions loading practices.”
All of the black sailors involved have since passed away, but Del Toro’s move will change their discharges to honorable ones. Once records are changed, surviving family members can work with the Department of Veterans Affairs to see if previous benefits are owed, according to the Navy.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
