Port Chicago Taskforce In the News

On Wednesday July 17, 2024 some 80 years after the Disaster, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said, "I have made the decision, inherent with my authority dating to the laws of the time, to set aside the court-martial results of all sailors convicted as part of the Port Chicago incident."

Port Chicago Weekend is a four-day festival held across various Bay Area cities, featuring music, art, food, education and commemoration.

The weekend events align with and support Port Chicago Remembrance Day, aiming to educate and spotlight the national history of Port Chicago, California by raising awareness of its impact on World War II and our nation's civil rights. CCCBA will host a workshop on Friday July 19 at the Concord Hilton that features panels of speakers calling for the exoneration of the Port Chicago 50.

Two members of the Port Chicago Taskforce, Shahrad Milanfar, a personal injury trial attorney and mediator and Gabriel Milanfar, a high school student who is passionate about social justice, published an article May 28, 2024 for the Daily Journal urging the legal community to take action in support of exoneration of the Port Chicago 50.

The CCCBA honored three sailors present at Port Chicago on July 17, 1944 and four members of the public who have worked to exonerate the Port Chicago 50. As the 80th anniversary of the disaster nears, we all hope that exoneration can be accomplished by this year's commemoration of the Disaster in Concord, California this summer.

Members of the Task Force Yolande Barial Knight, Yulie Padmore, and Jonathan Lee attended the California/Hawaii Conference of the NAACP and participated on a panel discussion with the Rev. Diana McDaniel about advocacy seeking the exoneration of the Port Chicago 50.

Members of the Task Force attended the 79th annual commemoration of the Port Chicago Disaster, held at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial. Read the comments offered by the Task Force as part of the official program here.

Together with the Federal Bar Association, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Historical Society, and the Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society, members of the Task Force presented a partial reenactment of the mutiny trial proceedings, as well as Thurgood Marshall’s comments on the verdict, in the ceremonial courtroom in San Francisco.