Speaker 1: Right now, it's time for the Way Black History Fact.
Speaker 1: And today's Way Black History Fact is sponsored by Major
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Speaker 1: and today it's going to be a little different. This
Speaker 1: is a little bit of Ebony excellence in Way Black
Speaker 1: History Fact. But it comes from Baba and Baba Yeah,
Speaker 1: comes from ABC News. The US Navy has exonerated two
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty six sailors who are unjustly court martialed
Speaker 1: in nineteen forty four following the Port Chicago explosion in
Speaker 1: California that killed three hundred and twenty people. The sailors
Speaker 1: had been punished for refusing to go back to work
Speaker 1: in what they considered to be an unsafe environment. Their
Speaker 1: prosecution took place at a time when the US military
Speaker 1: was still segregated, and reflected the unfair treatment of black
Speaker 1: sailors experienced. The two hundred and fifty six sailors were
Speaker 1: exonerated by Navory's secretary, Carlos Del Toro on the eightieth
Speaker 1: anniversary of the accidental, deadly World War two era blast,
Speaker 1: which also injured four hundred other people. The explosion at
Speaker 1: an ammunition loading area also damaged two ships and a train,
Speaker 1: and caused damage to the nearby town of Port Chicago,
Speaker 1: located east of Oakland, California. Theltoral's exoneration carries more weight
Speaker 1: than a pardon, which acknowledges guilt. Instead, the exoneration will
Speaker 1: vacate all of the court martials of the two hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty six sailors that they had to go through. Quote. Today,
Speaker 1: the Department of Defense has moved to rectify an old
Speaker 1: injustice and face up to face up to a painful
Speaker 1: episode in our own history. Quote. Defense Secretary Lord Austin
Speaker 1: said in a statement, the sailors quote refused to keep
Speaker 1: loading munitions in the same unsafe and inhumane conditions that
Speaker 1: contributed to the catastrophe. Unquote, he said, adding that decades later,
Speaker 1: the military recognized recognizes the sailors were right and the
Speaker 1: segregated navy that unnecessarily risked their lives was wrong. Sorry,
Speaker 1: all right. What happened after that deadly explosion reflected the
Speaker 1: double standards experienced by white and black personnel in the
Speaker 1: segregated military at the time. White supervising officers at Port
Speaker 1: Chicago were given hardship leave, while the surviving Black sailors
Speaker 1: they commanded in the segregated units that loaded the ammunition
Speaker 1: were ordered back to work at the port, which had
Speaker 1: been functioning around the clock to get ammunition in US
Speaker 1: troops on the front lines. Expressing safety concerns about their
Speaker 1: workplace in the wake of the deadly blast, two hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty eight black sailors refused to return to work
Speaker 1: handling dangerous ammunitions after threats of disciplinary action. Two hundred
Speaker 1: and eight of the sailors returned to work, but they
Speaker 1: still received summary court martials for disobeying orders and received
Speaker 1: a bad conduct discharge and forfeiture of three months pay.
Speaker 1: Fifty sailors who refused to return to work were convicted
Speaker 1: and charged with mutiny. They have become known as the
Speaker 1: Port Chicago fifty. In a mass court martial, these sailors
Speaker 1: were sentenced to dishonorable discharge, fifteen years confinement at hard labor,
Speaker 1: a reduction in rank, and a total forfeiture of their pay.
Speaker 1: Later reviews of the general court martial resulted in a
Speaker 1: suspension of the discharges and reduced a period of confinement
Speaker 1: from fifteen years to seventeen to twenty nine months were
Speaker 1: later cleared. By January nineteen forty six, nearly all the
Speaker 1: sailors have been released and were given the opportunity to
Speaker 1: finish their military service contracts. Del Toro's decision to exonerate
Speaker 1: the two hundred and fifty six sailors follows a legal
Speaker 1: review by the Navy's General Council. They found significant legal
Speaker 1: errors during the court martial, including trying all them together
Speaker 1: despite conflicting interests, as well as the denial of what
Speaker 1: the name we called meaningful right to counsel. All the
Speaker 1: sailors who were convicted following the blast are now deceased,
Speaker 1: and the Navy is asking any possible descendants to reach
Speaker 1: out to the branch for future notifications about the incident.
Speaker 1: And yes, they're all deceased, and it's a way black
Speaker 1: history fact, that's the name of the segment. But still
Speaker 1: right is right and making setting the record straight is
Speaker 1: not nothing. And also we didn't know about this story,
Speaker 1: and so we thought it was important to share it
Speaker 1: with you. This is modern news that is based on
Speaker 1: an old story, so we thought you guys would enjoy
Speaker 1: that