An explosive chapter in America's history On this Memorial Day, a remembrance
of disaster at Port Chicago:
In his new book, "The Color of War: How One Battle Broke Japan and Another Changed America," Campbell lays out in stunning detail one of that generation's most nightmarish events: the racism that caused the deaths of hundreds of African-Americans in the explosive annihilation of Port Chicago.
That's Port Chicago, Calif., and for more recent generations who haven't heard of the Port Chicago tragedy during World War II, they need to rush out to get this book for a taste of how things were more than 60 years ago.
On the night of July 17, 1944, the Port Chicago Naval Ammunition Depot, 35 miles northeast of San Francisco, was obliterated in an explosion equaling the force of a small nuclear bomb. It killed 320 sailors and civilians — of which 202 were African-Americans. It injured an additional 390, 233 of whom were African-Americans. Of those killed, only 51 could be identified. Those loading ammunition were instantly disintegrated or were ripped apart, their body parts hurled into the air, along with parts of two Liberty ships, a couple of locomotives, box cars loaded with ammunition and the pier on which they sat.
Why were so many black servicemen killed? Because of bigotry that was institutionalized in the kind of legal segregation condoned and so widely practiced in America, including in the military. They had enlisted believing that they would perform a meaningful service for their country, on the front lines in the Marines and aboard Navy combat ships, and develop meaningful skills. Instead they found themselves in second-rate boot camps and ended up performing the most menial of duties because, by popular opinion — including among senior military officials — they were incapable of doing little else.... More at:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ct-oped-0528-byrne-20120528,0,2982371.column
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