Preblast: Bring a weight bearing caribeaner. and a prolaclamation
Weather: 70 and overcast. wet from the night before and will be wet later but looked clear for the workout.
Pax: 9 men posted. Tulip, Thumper, Snooki, Brickyard, PVC, Cornwallis, Buckshot, Quick, Motorboat as Q.
Disclaimer given
Today’s workout was inspired by Juneteenth – the day that slavery was abolished in Texas.
The Thang: Attach rucks to a length of rope that had loops every 2ish feet. Designed to be awkward. Grab sandbags and head towards the large field (.75ish miles). Change sandbags every .25 miles. The Q read the Emancipation Proclamation as we moved to the field;
January 1, 1863
A
Transcription
By the President of the United States of America:
A Proclamation.
Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of
our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by
the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the
following, to wit:
“That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord
one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within
any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in
rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever
free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military
and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such
persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in
any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.
“That the Executive will, on the first day of January
aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any,
in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against
the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on
that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by
members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters
of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong
countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and
the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States.”
Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United
States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army
and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the
authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war
measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in
accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of
one hundred days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as
the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are
this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit:
Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard,
Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption,
Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of
New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North
Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West
Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth
City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and
Portsmouth[)], and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as
if this proclamation were not issued.
And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do
order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated
States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the
Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval
authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.
And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to
abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to
them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable
wages.
And I further declare and make known, that such persons of
suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United
States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man
vessels of all sorts in said service.
And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice,
warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the
considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh. By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
YHC encouraged the group to think about what the words meant and how we were at civil war. 620,000 people were killed in the war. it took all of the other wars the US has been involved in until vietnam to add up to the same number of deaths. Outside the civil war the current death count is about 645,000 total. As we moved towards the field YHC also read the Gettysburg address; “Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives, that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Arrived at field. Took off rucks. To earn the right to unclip your ruck you had to do an exercise to standard. First up: The Burpee. 40 Burpees in 60 seconds. All of us failed. 2nd attempt: 65 WWII sit-ups in 2 minutes. 3 Pax completed to standard. They were allowed to help other members reach their total count of the 3rd exercise; The hand-release ‘merican. 55 in 2 minutes. All Pax were able to complete.
3 exercises to do in any order:
100 ft rope drag of the 2 sandbags (~100 pounds)
150ft total farmers carry of 2 rucks
150ft total of burpee broad jumps
Grab sandbags and head back to the AO.
YHC reminded the pax that the war lasted 4 years but nearly 100 years later, there was still inequality. YHC read a speech by MLK Jr that was delivered almost 100 years to the day from the gettysburg address as we moved back to the AO (side note: this was much harder than expected).
I am happy to join with you today in what
will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the
history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in
whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro
slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a
joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still
is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly
crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One
hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst
of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is
still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile
in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful
condition.
In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s
capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the
magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they
were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This
note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be
guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory
note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this
sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check
which has come back marked insufficient funds.
But we refuse to believe that the bank of
justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in
the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we’ve come to cash this
check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the
security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to
remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the
luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is
the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from
the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial
justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial
injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a
reality for all of God’s children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook
the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate
discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and
equality. 1963 is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the
Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude
awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither
rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship
rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our
nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my
people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice:
in the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful
deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the
cup of bitterness and hatred. We must
forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We
must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again
and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with
soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community
must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white
brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that
their destiny is tied up with our destiny, and they have come to realize that
their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that
we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are
asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never
be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of
police brutality. We can never be
satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain
lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot
be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to
a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of
their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating for whites only. We
cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote, and a Negro
in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied,
and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and
righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have
come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh
from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for
freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the
winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue
to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to
Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia,
go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities,
knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow
in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, so even
though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It
is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will
rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed : “We hold these truths to
be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
I have a dream that one day on the red hills
of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will
be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state
of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with
the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and
justice.
I have a dream that my four little children
will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of
their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day down in Alabama,
with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the
words of “interposition” and “nullification”, one day right there in Alabama
little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white
boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley
shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places
will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory
of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I
go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the
mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to
transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of
brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray
together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom
together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day, this will be the day
when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning: “My country,
‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers
died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!”
And if America is to be a great nation, this
must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New
Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom
ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from
the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous
slopes of California. But not only that: Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain
of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom
ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
YHC did not remember ever listening to the entire speech and it was much more personally moving now that I am older and understand more.
Quick Mary:
Keep feet up for everything, even between exercises and stay IC
20 4ct flutter kicks
12 4ct Hello Dollies
10 Freddie Mercury
Leg raises (6 inches off ground) until Q’s watch beeped
Recover Recover
COT: PVC is back after having a stent placed. If he has chest pain, needs to take a nitro that is in the little bottle he carries. Repeat every 5 minutes for a total of 3 doses if needed. This is so we can help him if needed.
Moleskin: “Nothing Great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” Ralph Waldo Emerson.
This past week has been a time of profound reflection for YHC and I was hoping to pass some of the inspiration that affected me on to everyone else. Remember great things that took generations to make happen started with a single high impact man but needed the effort of many to make them work. Find the mark you want to leave on the world and go after it.
2nd F time followed at Starbucks.
Always great to start my day you guys.
–MotorBoat
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