Photo: BVEC
SAN ANTONIO, TX — Today, Black Veterans Empowerment Council (BVEC) attended a ceremony hosted by the Department of Defense at Fort Sam Houston to commemorate the soldiers of the 24th Infantry Regiment.
In 1917, Black soldiers assigned to the 24th Infantry mutinied in Houston, Texas prompting a controversial military trial that resulted in the conviction of 110, the execution of 19 Black soldiers and the lifelong imprisonment of 41 Black veterans.
“For over 100 years, the men of the 24th Infantry Regiment have been mired by a historical injustice that highlights the struggle of our nation to grapple with the legacy of anti-Black racism and discrimination in our Armed Forces,” said Victor LaGroon, Chairman of the Black Veterans Empowerment Council (BVEC). “BVEC wants to acknowledge and commend the Biden Administration, Department of Defense and Department of the Army for taking initial steps to restore the honor and diginity these soldiers were denied. Our military’s effort to recognize their mishandling of this mutiny must be met with a commitment to extending honorable discharges and full pardons in order to correct this miscarriage of justice. These men deserve nothing less.”
The Black Veterans Empowerment Council is a non-partisan coalition of national, state and local veterans organizations seeking to shift long-standing racial inequities suffered by Black veterans in the United States. Black Veterans Project is a 501(c)3 think tank advancing research, dynamic storytelling, advocacy and litigation to address systemic racial inequities across the military and veterans landscape.
