Social Justice

Date: 1/18/2021

AO: The Rising

14 PAX: Scar, Scar2k, Red Card, Dick Clark, Photo Finish, Trooper, Milky Way, WallE, Ribs, Brisket, Dos Equis, Mountie, Black Hole (Q) and Mulligan

Disclaimer. Modify as necessary.

Warm-a-rama

  • Arm circles / circle arms
  • Windmills
  • Imperial squat walkers

On this day, we remember Martin Luther King Jr, his words and his civil rights legacy. Regardless of where you stand on the issue, the plight of the Dreamers is the social justice issue of our time. YHC has been wondering whether we can look to history for guidance.

THANG

Pax were encouraged to bring a ruck sack, weighted vest or coupons to Ruck a mile down memory lane. Quote below shared while starting the ruck.

Finally, in your life’s blueprint must be a commitment to the eternal principals of beauty, love, and justice. Well life for none of us has been a crystal stair, but we must keep moving, we must keep going. If you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl, but by all means, keep moving.

Martin Luther King, Jr. speech on designing your life’s blueprint

Pax were encouraged to take a few paces to try to fly (run and jump), run, walk, and then bear crawl.

At the trolley line trail (under the power lines), the story of the Chinese experience in America was told. Chinese came for the gold rush (1849) and then for the railroad (1864-69), making up as much as 90% of the workers. The Chinese faced discrimination, culminating in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 (1st illegal immigrants). The law was in place for more than 60 yrs.

Continue w Ruck. To circumvent the law, many Chinese immigrants became “paper sons”. Due to the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, much of the city burned, along with official records and certificates. People obtained papers that showed he was the son of someone who was already here legally. Many families led undercover lives.

Keeping our heads down, Carolina Dry Docks IC x 48.

Continue w Ruck. The government knew about this and interrogations at Angel Island to get into America were quite grueling. In the mid 50’s there was a Chinese Confession program (amnesty) in which families could come clean about paper sons and reclaim their surname. Despite the danger of deportation, not many people took this opportunity.

No Surrenders IC x 9

Turn around and return to the flag. The confession program ended with the passage of several notable civil rights acts of the 60s, culminating in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. As MLK said, “The ark of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” Hopefully, it doesn’t take as long to resolve the current issue facing the Dreamers and comprehensive immigration reform.

Strava trace: 1.6 miles, mostly along the Trolley Line Trail

Count-o-rama, Name-o-rama.

COT

Take some time to walk a mile in other people’s shoes before passing judgement. We are all in this together. Justice for one group translates to justice for all.

L to R: Scar, Scar2k, Red Card, Dick Clark, Photo Finish, Trooper, Milky Way, WallE, Ribs, Brisket, Dos Equis, Mountie, and Black Hole. Not pictured: Mulligan

Thank you for the support the PAX showed during the ruck today. It was my honor to share my family’s story.

SYITG,

YHC, Black Hole

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