RYAN HARVEY CENTURIES DEEP

I know a man who hates unions
Even though he's in the union
And the wage he gets from being union
Gave him what he's got

He lives his life quite nicely
With a big house and a family
And seldom has to worry
About paying the bills

Yes the power he got from his union card
And his free time born from union blood
Gave him a happy life

I know a woman who hates the poor
Cuz she scared herself of being poor
And she hates that it's so close to her
From where she's at right now

She hangs through life on a thin thread
And the pundits offer her hatred
To make her feel like she's elevated
Above somebody else

But she knows and I know
She's right their in shadows
With all the somebody elses

America, you can look like this
Raised hard by the myths of whiteness
Hanging with a tightness
To a xenophobic past

The deck from which your hands are dealt
Is stacked centuries deep in cotton wealth
And the stories that your people tell
Are those of hope and pain

We got angry men who were raised deprived
Emotionally traumatized
Who's way of dealing with the world outside
Is rage or to block it out

And strong women who work most their lives
Unappreciated by the men in their lives
Who know what it means to feel alive
Cuz they know what it means to hurt

Ignorance bred from despair
That's what we got here

America, you can look like this
Raised hard by the myths of whiteness
Hanging with a tightness
To a xenophobic past

The deck from which your hands are dealt
Is stacked centuries deep in cotton wealth
And the stories that your people tell
Are those of hope and pain

I was raised by parents who worked hard
And they taught me how to work hard
But a lot of people work hard
And don't get what they deserve

And so it was early on
That I learned which side I'm on
The one that fights for human beings
In a world of dollar signs

You can call me radical
But I'd call myself practical
You know?

America, you can look like this
Raised hard by the myths of whiteness
Hanging with a tightness
To a xenophobic past

But that ain't gonna last