RC Beta
Gabriel Duncan
 
A betrayal of trust
When the gun met the buck
It was a sacriligous ritual
Skinning without song or drum
 
The deer that was told
So many years ago
To show the humans when they came
What to eat and what to hold
 
A broken constitution
Not yet put into writing
It's self-evident that we're all equal
No matter which colors we are flying
 
Before "We the people"
When war was just a game
When blankets meant honor
When men meant what they say
 
Now we're caught in the age
Of self-respected maniacs
Being arrested for sage
Caught always looking back
 
Always kept down
Screaming without a sound
No god can save us now
No one to show us how
 
Seven generations later
The assimilation is almost complete
Even the rez has city blocks
And the presidents have named our streets
 
Our rivers have been diverted
So nothing grows here
The elders won't share our culture
It's the laughter they fear
 
Never laughed so hard
In so many years
Never laughed so hard
Tryin' to hold back the tears
 
When I realized what I saw in those movies
And what I read in those books
Painted exactly what it be
Our nation's too embarassed to look
 
So they put out these movies
And cast the Italians
They sell us shit like "boom-sticks"
And paint the stallions
 
When we caught pox
They said it was our eagle feathers
The most sacred thing we had
But the truth is it was their sweaters
 
When we signed their treaties
They said that we could keep our land
As long as they could take our gold and ore
And strengthen the military upper hand
 
Sure we fought
But resistance was futile
They laid us to rot
Our weapons were fuedal
 
But one thing we couldn't understand
Something we just can't let go
Is how it got so out of hand
How they took our land
And killed our children
How they wanted to expand
 
Why they couldn't extend the hand of friendship
Why we're stuck here on reservations
Why the blacks can't commiserate
And Mexicans deny all ties
 
What is manifest destiny really?
Is it any more than self-righteous fervor
Denial, thievery and greed
And is it happening again, across the red sea?