Standing Rock

After all the Westerns, after all the lies
After making every effort to deny
That history is happening, that it isn’t in the past
That the Indian Wars continue, that Ishi was not the last
After building all the pipelines, after spraying all the gas
After desecrating graveyards and being told they shall not pass
After shooting all the horses, after driving in with tanks
After sending in the dogs with soldiers in their ranks
They’re standing up at Standing Rock

After all the firewater, after all the famine
After killing all the buffalo, after taking all the salmon
After taking all the water to slurry all the coal
After mining the uranium from a million giant holes
After stealing and lynching, shooting people as they dance
After trying hard to make sure there’d be no second chance
After declaring Indian Country to be one big Sacrifice Zone
At no point ever trying to acknowledge or atone
They’re standing up at Standing Rock

After all the cities ransacked, after all the cities burned
After all the centuries when almost no one even learned
That these towns ever existed, up and down the coast
Up and down the Mississippi, leaving colonists to boast
This land is our land now, a new homeland for the White
After all the missionaries taking children in the night
After all the slaughter, after centuries of theft
Watch the people riding to defend what’s left
They’re standing up at Standing Rock