Published: October 1998
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE URGES THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS TO PURGE RECORDS OF PORT CHICAGO SURVIVORS
Sacramento - The California Legislature recently passed Joint Resolution 52 that urges the President and Congress to purge the arrest and conviction records of Black Sailors who were treated unfairly by their government following the Port Chicago disaster.
"I introduced Joint Resolution 52 because the State Legislature was not on record requesting for the military records of the Port Chicago survivors to be expunged and honorable discharges issued to these seamen," stated Assemblyman Roderick Wright (D-south Central Los Angeles). "Few people know what occurred on July 17, 1944 in Northern California," Wright said. "On that day, 320 seamen (of which 202 were young African Americans serving in a segregated military), were killed," Wright continued.
In 1994, the Navy rejected a congressional request by Congressman George Miller and others to expunge the convictions, although the Secretary of Navy acknowledged "there is no doubt that racial prejudice was responsible for the posting of only African American enlisted personnel to leading divisions at Port Chicago."
Last February, Assemblyman Roderick Wright led the California Legislative Black Caucus (LBC) in honoring these American Heroes. Over 15 of the survivors and their families were honored in Assembly Chambers in a memorable ceremony that humbled those in attendance. Assemblyman Wright then took the survivors to Port Chicago to visit the blast site as well as the Naval Weapon Station in Concord, California.
"The February event was the kick off of a national campaign to raise public awareness of the Port Chicago disaster and build support around the country," Wright said. "I plan to travel to Washington, D.C. once Joint Resolution 52 is forwarded, to meet with the President and members of Congress to further discuss the resolution of the records of the Port Chicago survivors," Wright concluded.
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