Congressman Al Green Supports Efforts to Grant Clemency to Soldiers of Camp Logan’s 24th Infantry Regiment

(Houston, TX) – On Friday, December 17, 2021, Congressman Al Green (TX-09) released the following statement:

“William Cullen Bryant was right, ‘Truth crushed to earth shall rise again.’ The truth about the tragedy at Camp Logan has been buried in an earthly grave of lies. The Camp Logan Mutiny took place in Houston, TX during World War I on August 23, 1917. The 3rd Battalion of the 24th U.S. Infantry Regiment, comprised of all-Black soldiers, was sent to Houston, TX to guard the construction site of Camp Logan. Upon their arrival, tensions ensued between them and White police officers, which culminated in a deadly riot with casualties on both sides. Only Black men were convicted,” Congressman Al Green said. “It is my privilege and honor to support efforts by the NAACP Houston Branch and South Texas School of Law Houston to grant clemency to the soldiers of the 24th Infantry Regiment. Not only is this endeavor a moral imperative to right the wrongs of history, it is also a battle to preserve historical accuracy of what transpired in Camp Logan and rightfully acknowledge the tremendous disregard for human dignity that was witnessed,”

Congressman Al Green continued. “Dr. King famously said, ‘If a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.’ Yet barely over one century ago, this city dared punish and lynch soldiers of the 24th Infantry Regiment who were fit to live and found something worth sacrificing their lives for. This event known as the Camp Logan Mutiny was not really a mutiny: it was a cry of anguish in a world where true equality and justice were obstructed by the cloak of separate but equal and constant struggle. Thomas Carlyle was right: no lie can live forever. It is time to put to rest the lie that soldiers at Camp Logan were cold-blooded insurgents who should have been convicted and executed and grant them clemency.”