Port Chicago 50 Exoneration Bill Moves Forward

SACRAMENTO - A local politician's call for convictions of black sailors who made a stand after a deadly blast in Contra Costa County during World War II to be posthumously overturned was approved in the state Senate Thursday.

Introduced by Sen. Steve Glazer, D-Orinda, Senate Resolution 69 resolution calls on President Barack Obama to exonerate a group of munitions sailors referred to as the Port Chicago 50.

They were part of more than 250 black munitions sailors who refused to return to the unsafe working conditions that led to a cargo vessel explosion in 1944 at the former Port Chicago NavalMagazine near Concord, which killed 320 of their fellow sailors as well as civilians.

Around 200 of these sailors did return to work when threatened with the death penalty for what was referred to as mutinous conduct, but the 50 who resisted were sentenced to years of hard labor.

The U.S. Navy eventually gave those of the 50 who had not committed later offenses a general discharge under honorable conditions, but the charges of mutiny were never rescinded.

Glazer joined in the efforts of other Bay Area politicians, such as Mark DeSaulnier, D-Walnut Creek, in an attempt to remove what they said were "racially biased convictions."

"By exonerating these men, we can close an ugly chapter in California's history and give proper recognition to the discrimination that took place at the time," Glazer said in a statement.

Efforts to exonerate the Port Chicago 50 have been ongoing since 1990, when a campaign led by 25 members of the U.S. Congress was unsuccessful in having the convictions overturned.

Also on Patch: Lawmakers Seek Exoneration For Port Chicago 50

In 2010, a resolution similar to Glazer's was introduced to the California legislature and did not result in the exonerations.

-Bay City News, image in the public domain