Go in the Wilderness I: The Republic According to Wilbur

Something is foul here, it stinks of rank injustice (Something is foul here, rank injustice) We can agree the smell of hatred is dreadful (The smell of hatred) It is a stench that gives us power as white men (Gives us power as white men) Power is built on the backs of those who have none (Power is built on those who have none) The white lives we live can’t be lived without black blood (Black hands build white lives) Our world is built on exploitation of their blood and sweat and tears (Build with blood, sweat, and tears) I know you don’t believe me, it’s not what we’re told as children (You don’t believe me. Not what we’re told) Take an honest look now how our nation’s constructed (Look now with new eyes) You’ll see the price of our lives is the blood and pain of earth’s most wretched (Price of our lives is misery) I used to think just like you, that the world was as it should be (Just like you I thought the world just) I respected the masters believing every lie they ever told me (Like you I trusted lies of masters) My friend, you must open your eyes to the stories of the people, the most wretched of the people (My friend, you must open your eyes to the people) You’ll only find a fiction in the speeches of the masters so seek the truth from the people (Fiction in the lies of the masters, seek people) I believed the lies about black folks, I believed they deserved their station. It's strange to me now what I accepted as truth then. My blood boils thinking how these lies are still told to our children! Have you ever seen a plantation? Have you seen how the work goes on there? It's a brutal affair, the worst of our species. Dividing humans from the labor and the land sustaining all of our kind The masters know this. It's exactly how they designed this world The masters of mankind lie to us all to keep their power. The masters want the people of the earth divided It is the only way to keep us down (The masters want the world divided) The master live in constant fear of only one thing: the unity of everyone under their boot (They live in constant fear of solidarity) This world we live in cannot go on! Its injustice will not do! (Cannot go on with injustice) If things don’t change peacefully the violent birth of revolution is certain (If things don’t change now blood is certain) My friend, you must open your eyes to the stories of the people, the most wretched of the people (My friend, you must open your eyes to the people) You’ll only find a fiction in the speeches of the masters so seek the truth from the people (Fiction in the lies of the masters, seek people) I have much guilt for living my life as I do (I have much guilt for living as I do) I have taken so much more than I can give, And I know people struggle to live each day (How can I repay my debt?) Our problems are so vast, it makes it hard to know what is to be done (So vast, it's hard to what’s to be done) And I know that my woes are nothing compared to the woes of the field hands (I know my problems are nothing) I hope to change our violent ways and help birth a new world for us all!