Directed by Jeannot Szwarc
Written by Don Mc Gill
Retired Master Chief Petty Officer Aubrey McBride (Carl Gordon) wants to be retried for a 1944 incident in which he (Merlin Santana) and 49 other black sailors refused to load ammunition under unsafe working conditions at Port Chicago, California.
Commander Sturgis Turner (Scott Lawrence) defends, Lt. Singer (Nanci Chambers) prosecutes with Lt. Colonel Sarah MacKenzie as second chair for some reason. Mac is exasperated by Singer's aggressive and tactless manner, and jokes about murdering the junior officer.
Even though Mac characterizes Singer's handling of the case as a "train wreck," Turner could still lose if he doesn't show the context of the era with all the racism. At dinner with his father, Captain Matthew Turner (Bill Cobbs), at the officers' club, Commander Turner asks what it was like to be a black officer serving during World War II.
It was only because chaplains have to be officers that the recently ordained Matthew Turner was allowed to be an officer back then. And then he was only to preach to black men, all of them enlisted, and he couldn't go to the officers' club.
The next day, Commander Turner calls Captain Turner to the stand. Singer chooses not to cross-examine Captain Turner, but Mac decides to ask the old chaplain one question.
McBride also takes the stand. He signed up to fight in World War II, thinking he'd go to Europe or to the Pacific. Instead, he and other black men were used as cheap labor. To address the men's safety concerns, they were issued gloves, but nothing else was done to mitigate the danger of inadequately trained officers and men doing very dangerous work at a breakneck pace.
The members (jurors) find McBride not guilty on all counts. McBride asks Captain Turner to pray at the grave of another one of the Port Chicago 50 who died recently.
Meanwhile, Commander Rabb agrees to give Lt. Sims (Karri Turner) legal advice on buying a house, on the condition that she tell her husband, Lt. Roberts, who's at the start of a deployment aboard the USS Seahawk.
But after Sims signs the pertinent contracts, Rabb and Mac realize that she still hasn't told Roberts about the purchase. And Roberts still hasn't told Sims that his legalman is Petty Officer Jennifer Coates (Zoe McLellan).
Also, Singer asks Admiral Chegwidden for Roberts's old office and begins moving his things out, much to Sims's dismay.
Tropes
- Artistic License – Law: McBride waives his right against double jeopardy as casually as someone who cedes a parking space. In real life, the right against double jeopardy can be waived but only under very specific circumstances and only after much legal wrangling. In one case, the Supreme Court ruled that a defendant can waive the right against double jeopardy if the defendant agrees to have a criminal case "severed" (separated) into two or more distinct cases. A realistic depiction of such legal arguments would have bogged this episode down with details that would probably have bored the viewers.
- Based on a True Story: On July 17, 1944, there was an accidental explosion at the Naval Magazine in Port Chicago, California. The blast was felt in San Francisco. The white officers were given leave, while the black enlisted men were ordered to clean up and resume loading operations. Probably more than a hundred sailors refused but they relented after being threatened with harsh disciplinary measures. Except for fifty men, who continued to refuse to work in the unsafe conditions even if it meant going to prison. They were charged with mutiny, convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison. After the war, they were released and most were reasssigned to sea duty. In 1999, President Bill Clinton pardoned Freddie Meeks. Much more recently, Congress passed a resolution giving the president the authority to posthumously exonerate all of the Port Chicago 50. As of 2020, that has not happened.
- Monochrome Past: The scenes taking place in 1944 are shown in black and white except for colors for lights and for the explosion of July 17.
- My Country, Right or Wrong: Stated exactly on the witness stand by the black veteran who was a guard at the brig where the fifty insubordinate sailors were held.
- News Reel: This episode begins with an authentic Paramount news reel.
