Tortuguita’s Playlist

Once it was Muscogee, then a forest prison farm
Though the City Council said the woods should not come to harm
They voted to preserve it but their vote was overturned
In favor of Cop City, the name their project earned

Local people opposed it, opposition grew
Folks came to defend the forest, Tortuguita did, too
From Food Not Bombs in Florida to a tent beside a tree
Just outside Atlanta, in an adopted country

And I’m driving down the road, through the Georgia mist
Listening to Tortuguita’s playlist

They began construction in 2021
Protected by SWAT teams with armor and guns
The mayor said trespassers were terrorists
The resistors were afraid things might go like this

Chorus

Councilors said call off the armed raids
With that going on, mistakes could be made
Then one winter day the forest was filled
With a hail of bullets and Tortuguita was killed

Chorus

Dozens of bullets shot into a tent
They don’t want to say it, but that’s how it went
The Georgia police, answering straight
To the governor’s mansion, head of the state

Chorus