(Roaring Brook Press, 208 pp.)
In 1944, a massive explosion rocked the Port Chicago Navy base in San Francisco harbor, killing 320 servicemen and ultimately leading black men assigned to bomb-loading duty at the port to question the conditions and justice of their service.
EXCERPT:
鈥淔rom the Navy鈥檚 point of view, the sailors at Port Chicago were treated like any other enlisted men. All sailors had dangerous jobs, and there was no use whining about it. 鈥楾here was no discrimination or any unusual treatment for these men,鈥� a Navy report insisted.
鈥淏ut naval leaders were ignoring one essential point 鈥� segregation was discrimination. The very fact that black sailors were stuck at Port Chicago instead of being allowed to fight was discrimination. And the black sailors felt it, even if the white officers didn鈥檛.
鈥溾�榃e used to talk about what big fools we were, you know, only black boys loading ammunition,鈥� Martin Bordenave remembered. 鈥極nly white boys can go aboard ships.鈥�
鈥溾�榊ou didn鈥檛 see no white boys out there loading,鈥� said another sailor, Willie Gay. 鈥業 guess they figured that was all we were good for.鈥欌��
