The U.S. Navy has exonerated 256 Black sailors who were found to be unjustly punished in 1944 following a horrific port explosion that killed hundreds of service members and exposed racist double standards among the then-segregated ranks.
Before the explosion, the Black sailors working the dock had expressed concerns about the loading operations. Shortly after the blast, they were ordered to return to loading ships even though no changes had been made to improve their safety.
The sailors refused, saying they needed training on how to more safely handle the bombs before they returned.
What followed affected the rest of their lives, including punishments that kept them from receiving honorable discharges even as the vast majority returned to work at the pier under immense pressure and served throughout the war. Fifty sailors who held fast to their demands for safety and training were tried as a group on charges of conspiracy to commit mutiny and were convicted and sent to prison.
Shit like this is just a PR stunt.
Yes, but there is real money on the line:
The PR may get these families the leg up an honorably discharged service member should have got them in the 40/50s. It will still likely be battle, but for the PR, it will likely happen.
I disagree, this is an important component of truth and reconciliation. Institutions need to acknowledge and make amends for past harm in order to adequately move forward.
Ignoring an injustice forever would be wrong too, wouldn’t it?
We do not do anywhere near enough to acknowledge our racist past. It would do a lot more to clue people in to our racist present.
These sailors are owed a debt of gratitude and pensions to their descendants.
I was not at all attempting to convey the opposite.
Well, anything any organization does could be considered a PR stunt by that logic.