Port Chicago Disaster

Floor Speech

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Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlemen for yielding to me.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join his call for justice for the sailors and their families who suffered in the discriminatory and callous response to the Port Chicago Naval Magazine tragedy.

This is of particular importance to me because I have the honor of representing the district that the alleged leader of that protest, Joseph Randolph Small, had called home. It is also important because of where we are in the arc of history. The events of the past couple months have forced our Nation to do quite a bit of soul-searching on the topic of race and the enduring injustices felt by men and women of color.

From the seemingly inexplicable use of force against unarmed people of color in cases like those of Walter Scott in South Carolina and Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Ohio, to the explicit and disturbing hate crime committed at Mother Emanuel, we know that the bias and discrimination that occurred at Port Chicago is not isolated to the past.

But, Mr. Speaker, if there is any positive outcome to these tragedies, it is in the opportunity to heal long buried but never bandaged wounds. Recognizing one such wound, South Carolina recently voted to remove the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of its statehouse. Exonerating the sailors who were unfairly punished simply for seeking safer working conditions would help heal yet another.

Mr. Speaker, as my colleague already described, in 1944, a segregated U.S. Navy used Black enlisted men with no training to do the heavy, dangerous work of loading ammunition onto vessels that would transport them to the front. That lack of training and neglect for the safety of those sailors led to the greatest homefront disaster of World War II and claimed several hundred lives--most of them Black.

Small, who hailed from beautiful Somerset, New Jersey, led the protest because the survivors understood that to return to the same routine would mean risking another explosion. That simple protest of basic rights and consideration led to convictions of mutiny, prison sentences, and dishonorable discharges for the sailors who stood with Small.

Before the explosion, Small had complained to the new commander that he was promoting inherently dangerous behavior by rewarding the sailors who could load the most ammunition in the shortest period of time. Small was ignored. And after joining his peers in protest, he was kept in solitary confinement during his trial and sentenced to 15 years simply for seeking justice.

Mr. Speaker, exonerating these men would make right a longstanding injustice, and I am proud to stand with my colleagues in this call for action. I thank the gentleman for his work.

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