From the mud I came
I am blood and grain
Walking in the rain
All my flags are stained
On a continent I never planned
From a viking boat my people land
Yeah we were pagans then
Of the sea and of the land
Set up shop in Scotland
Then the crown came rushing in
So we got colonized
Chilled for a while
Then bounced to New England
Now I got a protestant work ethic to boot
Bootstraps always kicking even when I'm chilling
That's a New England curse
Or is it a blessing
The generational stress in my DNA pleads with me to fight this
But I'm confused can I be less than
White or more than whiteness
What's a settler to do
When they tell us the borders might be closing
In this era of global warming shits no longer
Fixed fast or frozen
The futures held in common
Not basic or broken
Cant all we be common
And live without domination
Go walk in the commons
Whitewashed history's abolished
Whitewashed history's abolished
Whitewashed history's abolished
We held land in common
Baked breads in public ovens
Stood together against invaders
Finally lost to the tax collectors
Foraged nettle for sustenance
Identified herbs on the periphery
The earth wasn't a thing to conquer
It was a complexity born lived with simplicity
Had no need for markets
So what you gonna tell me
I got everything I need yet
But you still find shit to sell me
When the devil came he came in
Clutching deeds and rosaries
You stole the ground from under me
And put your lords up over me
For generations we grazed cattle
They fields are empty but they're
Somehow still closed to me
You poisoned my family
Through neglect killed those closest to me
We rebelled, met our fate on crosses
And were beheaded
There was still a material world
Where people made material things
Where are we headed
Beyond the factories where we were employed at gunpoint
Stole another continent by ball point
Pen, they say is mightier than the sword
And you cant have one without the other
Those were the rules
In the white man's world
Fine print of currencies carved on our backs
Skyscrapers born through our chests
You built this country on the back of Black people
You brought here to build this temple
Murdered the indigenous, even laughed as the Irish
Died digging out the swamps, in droves
But we were never told
Most of this
And there's so much more I can never know
World upon worlds of worlds have been stole
My only hope is when this god awful project has fallen
And the inhabitants who were
Stranded here can find some room to grow
The futures held in common
Not basic or broken
Cant all we be common
And live without domination
Go walk in the commons
Whitewashed history's abolished
Whitewashed history's abolished
Whitewashed history's abolished