“While it might be convenient to assume that we can address the current divisive racial and political climate in our nation through race neutral means, experience shows that we have not escaped our history. Though the Civil Rights Movement challenged many of the most racist practices and structures that subjugated the African American community, it was not followed by a commitment to truth and reconciliation. For that reason, the legacy of racial inequality has persisted, and left the nation vulnerable to a range of problems that continue to yield division, racial disparities and injustice. By passing H.R. 40, Congress can start a movement toward the national reckoning we need to bridge racial divides.”(Sheila Jackson Lee)
VERSE 1
Queens and Kings from Africa
Taken in chains to build America
Infinite wealth gap off our blood and sweat
Reparative justice, now we’re here to get
CHORUS
H.R. 40
Reparations now
H.R. 40
We won’t back down
VERSE 2
Lynchings and land loss, voter suppression
Violent policing, incarceration
You made us separate and unequal
But we are not slaves, we are God’s people
RAP
Let’s address it, we gotta continue the message
Gotta stress it, lest we steady forget it
Cruelty, brutality, the inhumanity of slavery
All up in the states and colonies
We need a national apology
Check America’s economy
We know it wasn’t built in harmony
Can’t escape it, tell ‘em to face it, how the nation
Miscalculated they sovereignty
What happened to the 40 acres and a mule?
All we got was segregated buses and schools
How that make sense when we the human infrastructure
We the ones who laid the bricks and who mixed the mortar
H.R. 40 to the floor or Executive Order
H.R. 40 to the floor or Executive Order
No excuses anymore, this of utmost importance
Ain’t no I O U’s or a blessed assurance
We need a real investment
Talkin generational wealth
To shift generational health
You best believe who we in step with
Issa global conversation
Know our family round the world need reparations
Look until you get the message
We gon keep it in motion
We gon keep it pushin we know where we going
For our ancestors and descendents
It’s only right that we do it
It’s influenced, but look its more than a movement
VERSE 3
Peoples and nations, who lost their names
Stories and history, we must reclaim
Civilization, the first, we’re from
We will not rest ‘til full repair is done
Written by Rev. Mark Thompson (Matsimela Mapfumo) (ASCAP), Nabil Ince (BMI), Vincent Charlow (BMI), Olivia Mogul (ASCAP), Bryan Joy (ASCAP)
© 2022 Common Hymnal Publishing (ASCAP), Make It Plain (ASCAP), Mekkatte (ASCAP), BJOY MUSICS (ASCAP), Common Hymnal Digital (BMI), Seaux Chill Publishing (BMI), Soul Lore Creative (BMI) (admin by IntegratedRights.com)