1. |
White Lion
04:00
|
|||
White sails fly, snapping in the breeze
Aboard a man-o-war stolen from the Portuguese
Exotic rices, rum and spices, cargo sure to bring high prices
Winds of opportunity blow west
To New World wealth to be possessed and fortunes to be seized
A special cargo in our hold beneath the deck
A trader’s fine investment we’re paid dearly to protect
Must be 40 strong West Africans he bartered for some beads and guns
We snatch them from their wives and sons
And shoot them when they try to run, like animals so when we’re done
They learn to stop the running, hiding
Fear the jumping, drowning, dying
They can’t die here, they’ll die alone
They will go on, they can’t go home
(Sea Song)
Spanish ship, come down the river
Now pull, boys, pull
Gotta be gold that she got with her
Now pull, boys, pull
Spanish ship, deep in the water
Now pull, boys, pull
Land ahead, be ready on the starboard side
Jamestown harbor isn’t too much farther
Steady on the waves, we’ll ride the breakers
They can take us till we reach the beach
Dodge the reef, then slide around
Stand your ground. Keep the rudder in the water
It’ll be like cuttin’ butter when it’s hot.
Give it what you’ve got. We can make ‘er
Drop the sails. Cast the anchor!
Scorching sun, August heat
We drag the cargo from the darkness of the keep
The bos’n ascertains which battered baggage has survived
He’ll curse to find just 20-odd Black Africans alive
We drive them to the shore.
Next time there will be more
There will be more…
|
||||
2. |
Bacon's Rebellion
04:40
|
|||
White indentured servants from Great Britain
Black Africans that couldn’t bring their children with ‘em
Sweating and freezing and dying in all kinds of weather
Shipped to Jamestown enslaved together
In the 1600’s, we didn’t know we were White
Huddled like sheep through those dark winter nights
No racist theories teaching us to be separate
Just crushed by oppression and equally desperate
Oppressed by the wealthy, oppressed by their laws
With poor African friends we found common cause
And formed coalitions. It isn’t surprising
Every one of us expected a serious uprising
I hear from rich landowner, Nathaniel Bacon
Native Indian soil is ripe for the taking
His uncle, the governor, refuses to help him
So he's gathering forces to ignite a rebellion
Let's follow Nathaniel, our ranks are formidable
Light up your torches let's burn down the capitol
We’ll ambush the landowners quick before they take cover
And scatter like cockroaches infesting our cupboards
Take prisoners, the nobles like Governor Berkely
They may have heard that we're coming, so we'll have to move quickly
They're boarding their ships, they're getting away
They're all absconding like cowards out into the bay
The governor looked back in confused disbelief
If not for their ships they’d all be in shackles at least
He howled for the crown to send stout reinforcements
A resolute plan to take back the town was important
He'd rally his forces, wait for assistance
Round up his rivals, crush the resistance
So in the end, our uprising failed
Our leaders were hanged and our comrades were jailed
Landowners, shocked, not amused nor regaled
Acknowledged their narrow escape as a cautionary tale
We all lick our wounds and crawl back to work
Pushing our plows and digging up dirt
Pondering new policies put into place
That aim to blame the rebellion on something...
On something called race
|
||||
3. |
Step by Step
03:44
|
|||
Step by step
Step by step by
Step by step
Give the Whites an acre on the edge of town
A rifle to convince them that they’re safe and sound
Naturally it's for their own protection
That's how we plan to have them keep the Native population down
Whip the Whites who try to hide Black runaways
Reward them for reporting those who disobey
Excommunicate interracial married couples who cohabitate
We can't afford another coalition that would
Compromise our fragile capital position any day
Not in any way
Virginia Statute Act 12:
Be it enacted and declared that all children born in this country shall be held bond or free only according to the condition of the mother.
Virginia Statute Act 22:
Be it therefore enacted that any captured English servant accompanying a runaway Negro must serve time for said Negro's absence.
Virginia Statute Act 41:
Whatsoever white man or woman being free shall intermarry with a negro, mulatto or Indian man or woman shall be banished and removed from this dominion forever.
Step by step
Step by step by
Step by step
Bacon was the warning shot across the bow
His strategy is nagging at me even now
His workers found a way to work together
Their appetite for joining Black and White is what we can't allow
Strip some Blacks and rip their backs out in the square
We'll treat them like a feature at the county fair
By day or night when Black and White assemble
Defiance from any alliance should be punished everywhere
The children of the slaves we own as property
(cause that's the law)
We lynch them when they stray from home improperly
(cause that's our job)
Here's some good advice
Never let them make you have to give an order twice
They're simple-minded and uncivilized
Any independence should be neutralized
As pious and devoted men of God
We should never feel we need to spare the rod
The master has a fundamental role
To remind a worker who is in control
For the benefit of the community
We perform our duties with impunity
|
||||
4. |
Auction
04:19
|
|||
(parental advisory)
The legend of Columbus was historical skullduggery
Reinforced by papal bullshit called the Doctrine of Discovery
"Convertir a los nativos para que sigan al Redentor?"
Convert those fucking pagans using slavery and war!
Nine out of ten from indigenous nations
Dead from disease or guns or simple starvation
Fifty-five million at the hands of the White man
Looking for land (That was the plan!)
Goddam, we understand how to wipe out a civilization!
Pick it up back in Virginia we’ve been laying down the statutes
Where survival as a negro slave has always been a crapshoot
There we rape the mothers, rape their daughters
Drag our children to the slaughter
It’s frugal, it’s legal - and it makes a lotta dollars
Eenie meanie minie mo
Catch a white tiger with a Negro ho
Hang her by the ankles but you let him go
Eenie meanie minie mo
And if she hollers then you make her pay
Cut her with a razor like a fish filet
Teach her any lesson she can learn that way
Nine out of ten from indigenous nations
Dead from disease or guns or simple starvation
Fifty-five million at the hands of the White man
Looking for land (We do what we can!)
Goddam, we understand how to wipe out a civilization!
Take 'em to the market in a horse drawn truck
We get 'em buck naked and we line 'em up
Always make a killing on a nice big butt
Charge a pretty penny and you get your cut
The kids pick cotton like a damn machine
If you start 'em out early on a tight routine
But you gotta drive hard so they pick plants clean
Scare 'em with a whip and some gasoline
Who'll give me ten? Gimme ten dollars for the
Teenage nigger with a nice strong back
There's ten. C'mon friends, here's the deal
This boy's a steal and that's a fact
How 'bout twelve? (Twelve!) I hear twelve.
If you make it sixteen then I'll throw in the girl
Now hell, you can tell from the hips and the
Shiny white teeth she's a succulent peach and a pearl
(Bidder)
I'll trade you an acre for those two young kids
(Auctioneer)
I'll take that bid but you'll need to breed and they might not last
(Bidder)
Well I wanna make a profit so I guess I'll ask,
Have you got a couple more that you're hidin' out back?
(Auctioneer)
Fine sir, I do,and they're top shelf
I'll let you take ‘em both home and breed 'em yourself
Take a long ride on the middle passage
Bring as many as you can, yeah, that’s the message
Land, wealth at any price
Endorsed by the Pope and Jesus Christ
We need our slaves to work the land
(Take a long ride on the middle passage)
We know that you'll all understand
(Bring as many as you can, yeah, that’s the message)
Our plans to settle far and wide (Land, wealth at any price)
Are good since God is on our side
(Endorsed by the Pope and Jesus Christ)
We'll spread the hope of all creation
From Western European nations
Subdue the land and vanquish evil
By bringing God to native people
|
||||
5. |
Letter to Cotton Mather
02:55
|
|||
My Dearest Cotton,
Since your graduation from Harvard at age 16, I have become increasingly vexed that English masters are not doing their job of looking after African slaves and children, whose souls are as white and good as those of other Nations... yet destroyed for lack of knowledge.
An opportunity is in our hands for all who have any Negroes in our houses - whether we may not be the happy instruments of converting the blackest cases of blindness and baseness into admirable candidates of eternal blessedness.
This opportunity must not be lost - if we have any concern for souls (our own or others).
I have heard that the Religious Society of Negroes there in Boston has agreed to be counseled by someone wise and of English descent, and not to afford shelter to anyone who has run away from their masters.
The Africans' gross bestiality and rudeness of manner, the variety and strangeness of their languages, and the weakness and shallowness of their minds render it almost impossible to make any progress in their conversion.
They are better fed, better clothed and better managed by far than they would be if they were their own men. They must not be allowed to partake in evil and make themselves infinitely blacker than they are already. But by obeying, their souls will be washed white in the blood of the lamb.
Furthermore, it cannot be disputed that the Christianized servant will always be more profitable to his master. My dear son, then, let us make a trial, whether they that have been scorched and blackened by the sun of Africa, may not come to have their minds healed by the more benign beams of the sun of righteousness.
God will be with you, I am persuaded he will. And with that persuasion I subscribe myself,
Your faithful mother and devoted servant,
Maria Mather
|
||||
6. |
White Freedom
02:19
|
|||
I'm no racist
Ah, but all of your neighbors are white?
I don't see color
Of course, so you won't have to join in the fight
Not a racist bone in my body
Because racist bones don't exist
I have a black friend I invite to my house
But you've never been over to his
Freedom
From feeling discomfort or pain
Freedom
A troublesome topic, it's plain
Freedom
From having a hard conversation
Perpetual silence is cultural violence
Your whiteness is at it again.
I don't do slavery
No, but it's ok for somebody else?
I pay all of my laborers something
Sure, but you'd never become one yourself
I vote for free education
Well then, maybe you'll build them a school
We'll dig up some ground on the far side of town
So they won't have to swim in our pool
Freedom
We know that it comes at a price
Freedom
The secret is always be nice
Freedom
It's clear that our system is working
Don't cause any trouble, don't puncture the bubble
It's worth it, take my advice
This racist tragedy
Why should it have to be
Our nation's strategy?
Why let it shape our fragile future
A free economy
Demands autonomy
I love community
But someone has to be the loser
Freedom
To gain any profit we can
Freedom
The dream, that was part of the plan
Freedom
From holding us all to account
If freedom for all becomes part of the law
True representation be damned
|
||||
7. |
Southern Reconstruction
04:02
|
|||
‘63 we lost the South
Our sacred cow, our noble cause
Our heritage was ripped away,
Our way of life was sacrificed
To Lincoln's law, a wicked wedge
A power play for Blue and Gray
Years and years of grinding toil
In blood and soil, our precious lives
For God and kin, we gave our all
We scrimped and saved and taught our slaves
To tow the line, sink or swim
Run or crawl, to rise or fall
Now we've been scammed
And I'll be damned
If we'll allow a colored man
To walk in here and take command
Of any inch of southern land
Our home, our space
Take away the colored race
We will never be replaced
All we want is freedom
We want freedom of our own
North is not our beacon
We can find our way alone
Kiss and call it even
Leave and we can let it go away then
We can all forget the crying
And the million dead or dying
Talk the owners into hiring
Bring the buyers back to buying
Get suppliers re-supplying
Market engines up and firing
Nothing sounds as gratifying
3. ‘69 we'd seen enough
To call their bluff, the growing mass
Of former slaves had gained control
Through legal fights and voting rights
New laws were passed, they came in waves
In fits and throes like body blows
Now we aim to make it clear
The law down here may seem insane
Might hunt you down and hang you high
Remember jury and the judge
Are all the same for Black and Brown
Wrong or right, we're always White
Now we've been scammed
And I'll be damned
If we'll allow a colored man
To walk in here and take command
Of any inch of southern land
Our home, our space
Take away the colored race
We will never be replaced
|
Deep_Sea_Music Portland, Oregon
Composer/producer Daniel Portis-Cathers draws from world class talent to produce music for film, television and the web. He has operated Deep Sea Music, Inc. since 1984.
Streaming and Download help
If you like Origins of Whiteness, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp