Columbus

I will not celebrate Columbus
I will turn the other way
I will not celebrate Columbus
there was no honor on that day

on that day when the brave sea captain so they say
set out to prove that the world was round
yeah but really he was looking out for gold and he would kill for it
all for the sake of the European crown

and they found a gentle people on the shore line
a gentle people, they could turn them into slaves
and they cut down those people just as fast as they could
they didn’t even give them time to dig their own graves

I will not celebrate Columbus
I will not give honor to his name
I will not celebrate Columbus
it is a day of infamy and shame

and the flood gates were opened and history rolled
and the numbers were uncountable, the numbers were extreme
every dead one died for a hawk’s bell full of gold
forgotten in the margins of the American dream

I know it was a long time ago
I know it’s hard to remember but it’s harder still to forget
living in the shadow of a holocaust
maybe some day will organize and rise to be a threat

I will not celebrate Columbus
I will not give honor to a killer and a thief
I will not celebrate Columbus
I will not celebrate absurdity’s belief

and there is a statue out by city hall
a soldier with his uniform, his helmet and his gun
Chivington’s army at Sand Creek
women and children and what have they done

they have paved their paradise with money and blood
they have built their greatness on the backs of the dead
and when they stand before the gates of their arrival
there will be a price on their head

I will not celebrate Columbus
I will see him deconstructed in the naked light
I will not celebrate Columbus
I will not celebrate until we make things right

let’s take this upside down world and turn it over
let’s make sense of this senselessness
let’s build a house that we can all live in together
let’s clean up this mess

I will not celebrate Columbus
I will not celebrate Columbus
I will not celebrate
Columbus
Columbus