MikeDunnAuthorToday in Labor History September 1, 1987: During a nonviolent protest against the illegal U.S arming of the Nicaraguan Contras, a Navy munitions train ran over anti-war protester Brian Willson at the Concord Naval Weapons Station, just east of San Francisco. Willson lost both legs in the incident, as well suffering permanent brain damage. The next day, dozens of protesters returned to the site and dismantled the tracks. Three days later, over 10,000 people demonstrated at the site. And anti-war activists continued to maintain an around-the-clock vigil at the site for years afterward. At the time, the Concord station was shipping between 60,000 and 120,000 tons of munitions each year to U.S. forces and allies.
For at least a year prior to the 1987 incident, the FBI had been monitoring Brian Willson as a “domestic terrorist.” Furthermore, the train crew had been advised to not stop the train, even if protesters were blocking the tracks. Willson later filed suit, arguing that the Navy and individual supervisors were given ample warning of their plan to block the tracks, and that the train crew had time to stop. The official Navy report confirmed this. The civilian members of the train crew subsequently sued him for the "humiliation, embarrassment & emotional distress" the incident caused them. Willson, a Vietnam War veteran and member of Veterans For Peace, continued to be an active leader in the anti-military, prisoners’ rights, and anti-imperialism movements.
The Concord Naval Weapons was formerly known as Port Chicago. During World War Two, an explosion there killed 322 mostly black sailors during, setting off a rebellion known as the Port Chicago Mutiny, in which 200 black sailors refused to load any more munitions. 50 of them were convicted and sentenced to hard labor. Thurgood Marshall, who was working for the NAACP at the time, provided their legal representation. He noted that only black men had been assigned to the dangerous munitions loading job. Congress did not exonerate the men until 2019.
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