Mass Crucifixion

Mass Crucifixion by Roy Wilkins (PDF)


The navy courts-martial which found 50 Negro seamen guilty on a "mutiny" charge, and the army courts-martial which found 28 Negro soldiers guilty of rioting constitute nothing less than a mass crucifixion of the Negro race and its contribution to the war effort.

The sailors were given savage sentences ranging from five to fifteen years in prison. At this writing the soldiers have not been sentenced. The sailors were supposed to have conspired to disobey orders to load ammunition ships at the West Coast port. The incident happened right after 250 Negro sailors had been killed in an explosion loading ammunition at the port. The soldiers were supposed to have rioted against Italian prisoners of war stationed with them at Fort Lawton, Wash.

The sailors' defense was that they did not refuse to obey an order to load ammunition, that they were asked whether they wanted to go on loading after the fatal blast and a certain number of them said they did not wish to continue. The detailed record in the trial of the soldiers is not yet available, but it is known that they were incensed over the preferred treatment given Italian ex-enemies, in contrast to the Jim Crowism and humiliation meted out to them in the uniform of their country.

In both trials the statement appeared frequently in the press that these were the largest trials ever held by the army and navy in their histories, giving clear impression that Negroes upset historic American tradition by mass disloyalty and violence in wartime. The Crisis recognizes the necessity for absolute discipline in time of war and does not condone mutiny or rioting soldiers; but we cannot escape the belief that while these trials were staged under the cloak of enforcing discipline, there was the added purpose of smearing and crucifying an entire race. The boards of review in both cases ought to consider carefully this aspect, as well as the records and the pleas of the counsel.