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President Obama has already recognized the significance of Port Chicago in the history
of World War II and the civil rights movement, said Rev. Diana McDaniel, president of the
Friends of the Port Chicago Memorial which organized the letter. Now he can use his powers
as President to help right the legal record by counteracting an unjust prosecution and conviction
which would never have occurred but for their race. We respectfully ask that he examine the
merits of our request, and that he help the Port Chicago 50, and their families, find justice after
all these years.
Additional information about Port Chicago can be found at the Friends website,
http://portchicagomemorial.org/, and at the National Park Services site for the Memorial,
http://www.nps.gov/poch/index.htm.
The letter and signatories follow:
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loss in benefits as a result of unwarranted prosecution that was, in the words of Congressman
George Miller, a miscarriage of justice based on the racism of the time.
Nearly a quarter century ago, an Act of Congress was required to compel the Navy Board of
Review to review the convictions of the 50 sailors. Even though the Secretary of the Navy in
1994 admitted that racial prejudice affected the operations at Port Chicago, including the
assignment of only untrained black sailors to the dangerous munitions loading operations, the
Navy refused to reverse the courts decision.
Subsequently, President Bill Clinton, responding to an application through the Pardon Attorney,
granted a pardon in 1999 to Freddie Meeks of Los Angeles, one of only a few of the convicted
sailors remaining alive at that time. As a practical matter, we recognize the difficulty of
gathering all of the documentation on the remaining 49 men that would be necessary to meet the
standards required by the regular pardon process. In any event, we note that under the
1915 Burdick v. United States decision, acceptance of a pardon carries an imputation of guilt,
acceptance, a confession of the commission of a crime, which we believe is an unjust burden to
require of the Port Chicago sailors.
The very substantial record that has been developed by scholars, lawyers and others over the past
two decades provides more than adequate evidence that the unprecedented mutiny trial of the
Port Chicago survivors was based upon, and characterized by pervasive racism. Even at the
time, Thurgood Marshall, who was deeply involved in the case in his capacity as counsel for the
NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, recognized the prejudicial
nature of the prosecution and convictions. In addition, in the intervening years, action has been
taken to exonerate other black Americans against whom military prosecution was determined to
have been racially influenced, including Henry Flipper and the Fort Lawton 28.
As President, you possess a wide range of options for providing the Port Chicago 50 with the
justice free from racial prejudice that they never received. Indeed, we note your past use of your
commutation power, which you described as "an important first step toward restoring
fundamental ideals of justice and fairness."
We respectfully request that you utilize all of the options available to you as President to set
aside the unjust mutiny convictions of the Port Chicago 50. In particular, we request that you
explore all appropriate Executive remedies that would remove the unfair convictions from the
military records of these sailors, and give comfort to their descendants and many more who are
committed to telling the story and teaching the lessons of Port Chicago. Most importantly, we
plead for your intervention to provide justice to the 50 black sailors, justice that was denied them
in 1944 and in the 70+ years since that tragedy.
The Friends of the Port Chicago National Memorial is prepared to assist you and your staff in the
review of the historical, legal and archival materials to assist you in considering such an
initiative. In addition we have included along with this letter a copy of the legal brief that was
used in 1999 in the application presented to President Clinton on behalf of Mr. Meeks. We thank
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you for your past support for the memory of those who sacrificed their lives at Port Chicago
Naval Magazine, and we request your continued attention to the need for restorative justice for
those loyal and brave Americans who survived.
Sincerely,
Friends of Port Chicago Board of Directors
The Reverend Diana McDaniel, President
Robert Allen, Ph.D., Secretary,
David Salniker, L.L.M.,Treasurer
John A. Lawrence, Ph.D, Retired Chief of Staff for Hon. Nancy Pelosi & Hon. George Miller
Marc Bruner, Esq.
Zoe Polk, Esq.
Camarin Madigan, Esq., General Counsel