From the recording Crimson Debt
On the television, the man sees systemic racism, state violence and white supremacy as a blood-soaked “debt” written in threats, poverty and premature graves, all paid by those marked as lesser. But people start to reject “neutral” complicity and empty sugar-coated talk, insisting that real change and justice must be fought for in the streets and in the work people do together.
Lyrics
God’s got a cold and crooked grin
The kind that lets the wolves walk in
A baby marked by shade of skin
And silence dressed up as sin
They say some lives are born to rank
I hear that lie and leave it blank
I won’t bow down to their cold plan
’Cause no man stands above another man
The same blood runs in every vain
The price was signed in smoke and threat
They won’t forget the shaming pain
While others will have to pay the crimson debt
No bread to break, no well to trust
Throats are clay, and fields are dust
No fertile ground for dreams to land
Just graves dug deep by pop’lar demand
They preach order with their boot
And call your grief a criminal brute
No peace is born from sugar talk
But they even won’t justice learn to walk
The same blood runs in every vain
The price was signed in smoke and threat
They won’t forget the shaming pain
While others will have to pay the crimson debt
They brand you as a problem when you’re young
And write your future with a gun
They call it a pity when the damage‘s done
But we won’t be quiet till the battle will be won
Riot drums and sirens wail
But every heavy hand will fail
’Cause fear can rule a town one night
It can’t outlive the morning light
White rules spread like a disease
And neutral hands just help it to seize
We always hope a change is gonna come
But hope ain’t truth till the work is done
The same blood runs in every vain
The price was signed in smoke and threat
They won’t forget the shaming pain
While others will have to pay the crimson debt
The same blood runs in every vain
The price was signed in smoke and threat
They won’t forget the shaming pain
While others will have to pay the crimson debt