July 11, 2023
City Council
DATE: July 11, 2023
TO: Members of the City Council
FROM:
Councilmember Cesar Zepeda and Mayor Eduardo
Martinez
Subject:
Support Local, State, And Federal Efforts To Exonerate
The Port Chicago 50
FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no financial impact related to this item.
PREVIOUS COUNCIL
ACTION:
None
STATEMENT OF THE
ISSUE:
The City of Richmond joins the effort to affirm support to restore honor to, and rectify the mistreatment by the
United States Military of, any sailors who were unjustly blamed for and convicted of mutiny after the Port
Chicago disaster, which occurred in the town of Port
Chicago, California, in 1944.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
ADOPT a resolution in support all efforts to exonerate the Port Chicago 50 and recognize their service to our
country - Councilmember Cesar Zepeda (510-620-6593)
and Mayor Eduardo Martinez (510-620-6503).
AGENDA
REPORT
July 11, 2023
DISCUSSION:
On July 17, 1944, the deadliest home front disaster of World War II took place when a tragic explosion occurred at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine killing 320 men (of whom 202 were African American) and wounding 390 (of whom 233 were African American).
Port Chicago Naval Magazine was racially segregated and all sailors loading munitions at the time of the explosion were African American. The surviving sailors were entitled to standard survivors’ leave but were denied leave, resulting in the surviving sailors being ordered back to handling high explosives before an investigation could determine the cause of the deadly explosion.
258 ammunition handlers engaged in peaceful work stoppage rather than returning under the same unsafe working conditions; and fifty of these men were unlawfully charged with mutiny, prosecuted as guilty and sentenced to prison.
Naval historians now recognize the actions of the Port Chicago 50 potentially saved lives and changed the Navy for the better.
In 2022, the City of Concord, the City of Albany, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors passed resolutions supporting local, state, and federal efforts to exonerate the sailors wrongfully convicted of mutiny following the Port Chicago disaster of 1944.
The City of Richmond does hereby support these and all efforts to exonerate the Port Chicago 50 and recognize their service to our country. We also recognize the efforts that this case presents in our nation’s struggle for social justice, racial equity, and workers’ rights.
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
Attachment 1 – Resolution