From the recording Copper Lips (feat. Ruth Naomi Floyd)
The Statue of Liberty has always had something to say—if you know
where to look. Hidden beneath her robe, near her feet, lie broken
shackles, visible only from above. She was meant to symbolize freedom,
yet for the descendants of enslaved Africans, she holds no records, no
names, no welcome.
Their arrival was not a journey of hope, but one of oppression and
survival.
Still, she stands at the intersection of memory and myth, reminding us
that the end of slavery was not the end of struggle, and that liberty’s story
remains incomplete.
Lyrics
V1
They call me Lady Liberty, it just rolls off the tongue of the people that are already free
But I had a much grander mission, to honor all the souls that enabled abolition
V2
I hold my torch and it lights up the sky, and many people believe they’ve climbed up that high
Just like many believe that all Americans are free, as if they have copper ears that do not hear, or copper eyes that do not see.
Chorus
I was born to celebrate the end of slavery, but somehow that got lost in history
At my feet lie the shackles that are broken, but my copper lips are sealed and I can’t say the words that should be spoken
V3
There are two kinds of original sin, one comes from the garden, and the other the plantation
Does the Lord care about the color of your skin as he bathers you in clean water and grants you absolution?
V4
I welcome all my fellow immigrants, because I know too well how this shoreline can strip you of your innocence.
Has no one stolen your birthright, or robbed you of your dignity? Well just climb up in my head and see only what you want to see. (Chorus)
V5
Twenty years after the Civil War, nobody wanted to remember, or talk about it anymore,
But souls beaten have scars that ever last, and silence and ignorance keep us shackled to our past.