Title
Adoption of Resolution Supporting Local, State, and Federal Efforts to Exonerate the Port Chicago 50. (City Manager 10021030) [Continued from October 17, 2023]
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Jennifer Ott, City Manager
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Port Chicago was a small town in Contra Costa County, east of the town of Martinez on the Suisun Bay, a little more than 30 miles away from Alameda. The Port Chicago Alliance website (www.portchicago50.com <http://www.portchicago50.com>) provides a history of the Port Chicago Disaster, a massive explosion that killed 320 men, two-thirds of whom were African-American, as they were loading Navy ships with ammunition for the Pacific theater, the protest of the Port Chicago sailors, and the sentencing of the Port Chicago 50 for conspiracy to commit mutiny.
In 2022, resolutions supporting exoneration of the Port Chicago 50 were passed by the Cities of Concord and Albany and the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors; and in 2023, the State of California passed a resolution and local United States representatives sponsored a resolution calling for the exoneration of the Port Chicago 50. The proposed City of Alameda (City) resolution supports local, state, and federal efforts to exonerate the Port Chicago 50.
BACKGROUND
Port Chicago was a small town in Contra Costa County, east of the town of Martinez on the Suisun Bay, a little more than 30 miles away from Alameda. The Port Chicago Alliance website (www.portchicago50.com <http://www.portchicago50.com>) provides a history of the Port Chicago Disaster, a massive explosion that killed 320 men, two-thirds of whom were African-American, as they were loading Navy ships with ammunition for the Pacific theater, the protest of the Port Chicago sailors, and the sentencing of the Port Chicago 50 for conspiracy to commit mutiny. This tragedy accounted for 15% of all Black American military deaths during World War II. In 1994, the National Park Service established a National Memorial at Port Chicago Naval Magazine, the site of World War II’s worst home front disaster.
The Navy had not provided the sailors with the resources or training needed to safely carry out their duties. After the disaster, sailors who were not killed or injured were sent to Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo to continue the work of loading ammunition onto Navy ships. When they resisted, 258 Black sailors were forced onto a prison barge and threatened with death-by-firing-squad. Fifty sailors, now known as the Port Chicago 50, refused to return and were charged with mutiny, which carried a maximum wartime punishment of death.
The mutiny trial for the Port Chicago 50 took place on Treasure Island and lasted for six weeks. The jury, comprised of an Admiral and six Navy officers, deliberated for 80 minutes before delivering a guilty verdict with a sentence of 15 years in prison and hard labor. Following an appeal by Thurgood Marshall, in January 1946 the sailors' sentences were commuted and they were released from prison, but they were not exonerated for being wrongfully convicted of mutiny.
DISCUSSION
In 2022, resolutions supporting exoneration of the Port Chicago 50 were passed by the Cities of Concord and Albany and the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors. The State of California passed Senate Joint Resolution No. 15 urging the President of the United States and Congress to restore honor to the sailors and rectify any mistreatment including full exoneration. In 2023, US Representatives Mark DeSaulnier, Barbara Lee, and John Garamendi co-sponsored a House Resolution recognizing the victims of the Port Chicago explosion and calling for the exoneration of the Port Chicago 50. Vice President Kamala Harris has praised the Port Chicago 50, writing that they “pushed for progress, and our Armed Forces are stronger today because they reflect the diversity of our country.”
The proposed City of Alameda Resolution supports all efforts to exonerate the Port Chicago 50 and recognize their service to our country; recognizes the efforts that this case presents in our nation’s struggle for social justice, racial equity, and workers’ rights; and affirms support for all future efforts which urge the President, Congress of the United States, and Secretary of the Navy to take all necessary actions 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.
ALTERNATIVES
• Adopt a resolution supporting local, state, and federal efforts to exonerate the Port Chicago 50.
• Do not adopt a resolution supporting local, state, and federal efforts to exonerate the Port Chicago 50.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact from adopting the attached resolution.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
This action in consistent with the Alameda Municipal Code.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) applies only to projects that have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. This action is not a project pursuant to Public Resources Code section 21065 and CEQA Guidelines section 15378.
CLIMATE IMPACT
There are no identifiable climate impacts or climate action opportunities associated with the subject of this report.
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt a resolution to support local, state, and federal efforts to exonerate the Port Chicago 50.
Respectfully submitted,
Sarah Henry, Communications & Legislative Affairs Officer
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Margaret O’Brien, Finance Director