Pray - Flobots

Any dream can become a nightmare

If we never wake from it

Any person can seem like a devil

When their story and history are lost to lies

We are blinded by falsehoods and weak mythology

We are called to wake

We are called to rise

The opposite of oppression is liberation

Together we can confront the bloodstained chapters of our stories

And write with new ink

Pages of reconciliation and forgiveness

It is time for an exorcism

To expel the demons which have separated us

To purge our souls from the toxic claims of whiteness

To walk gloriously into that great truth we have always known

We are family

When my father handed me the lash

Taught me false tradition

Separate my family white from black

Consecrate division

I was young and ignorant of grace

Lived as they had taught me

Down in the river

I claim my sins

Cast the devil off me

Pray the pale white devil back to hell

Blessed be my witness

Pray the pale white devil back to hell

Cry for my forgiveness

When the demons beckoned me to come

Why did I believe them

Named my brother as three fifths a man

Left his body bleeding

Claimed my sister as their property

Used her for their pleasure

Pray the pale white devil back to hell

Cleanse my sins forever

Look at me and what do you see

See somebody up in a tree

Saying don’t lie to us

At the worst of times

I see nursery rhymes

Too anonymous to believe

I’d rewrite them posthumously

But we can’t wipe the blood from these leaves

It’s inside of us

Like a demon spawn

Conceived deep beyond

Pray to God for us to be free

I first caught him in the valley where the water was tainted

Followed on the map and saw the spot where it was painted

The bottle was ancient

Fiddle with the folds of a riddle made sacred

7 million dollars out of only one sl-p

From the mystery run

Screaming oh my God it’s begun

Now we read prophecies of our progeny

And the monsters they have become

What the hell have we done?

Pray the pale white devil back to hell

Make my soul unbroken

Pray the pale white devil back to hell

Let my eyes be opened

Hip hop is transphobic

I speak the statement seeking its irrelevance

When it’s said the further from hell it gets

So why call BLM some terrorists

We did the same with Martin

And worse with the suffragettes

First resistance

Forgiveness is coming next

Before the wing is the cell of the chrysalis

The catalyst to something else

They’d pay attention

If I eliminated a Mona Lisa

When God’s masterpieces are

Killed with increasing frequency

Imitate immortals just to get someone to listen

We are building up a world that changes shame into contrition

We have named our mission

Praying, not condemning

Blood relations are craving witness

Liberation from this nation’s sickness

We will win with no malice and no militias

Speak truth to your neighbor

For we are all members of one body

Be angry and sin not

Do not let the sun go down on your wrath

Nor give place to the devil

Our weapon will not be righteousness

Our tool will be humanity

Pray the pale white devil back to hell

Shout him from the heavens

Usher in the souls long cast aside

Beg for resurrection

Turn and face your savior eye to eye

Stand for your conviction

Pray the pale white devil back to hell

'Til the Lord is risen