Pull These Statues to the Ground

Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue
And when he got here, he did what he came to do
He hacked off people’s arms in his search for gold
Of women, men, and children, young and old
George Washington was the richest ruler of
A vast colony he ran with an iron glove
Who went ahead with all the plans he made
With the British out, to expand the slave trade

If human liberation is the place where we are bound
Then first we pull these statues to the ground

Andrew Jackson drove thousands across the plain
With famine and death he left the grasses stained
A proud racist and a killer, ruling a slave state
If the society were sane, there would be no debate
Albert Pike was a general, who invaded Mexico
Where they had just ended human bondage, you know
But abolition could not stand, and Pike was on the side
Who thought that freedom must be violently defied

Chorus

Ulysses S. Grant was just another in a line
Of the overseers of imperial decline
Who ordered his vast armies to go
Deport the Modoc people and kill all the buffalo
From Theodore to Franklin to the president today
An empire ruled the American way
The pedestals are broken, they can’t bear the weight
Such a beautiful country, such a failed state

Chorus

Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue
And when he got here, he did what he came to do