So They Invented Race

So they invented race

And made themselves different

From those they banned from grace

They invented race

By writing difference in the air

They invented race

And carved it in a language

Tattooed it in space and wrote it on skin

So they made up race

And programmed it in their cash

And the air's dark in our mouths

It's a bitter light

And the skin fades from our sight

People's faces into forms

So they made up exotic

And wrote it in color

On parchment backs

As adventure maps, yeah

So they shattered my world to a million pieces

But I hold on to each piece, and I number them all

I won't let my children's smiles be shattered into dust

And their currency's contempt

And their power laughs

And the skin fades from my sight

People's faces into forms

Salt sown into day

Dark sown in the land

Blindness sown in our hopes

So they invented race

Divide down their grace

And made their case

In fear and pain

So they invented race

And we'll invent clarity again

And the air's dark in our mouths

It's a bitter light

And the skin fades from our sight

People's faces into forms

And their currency's contempt

And their power laughs

And the air's dark in our mouths

And the air's dark in our mouths

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh