Reconciliation

(Words by CC the Cat with assistance from Ras Hori)

let me tell y’a little story bout d’australian nation
not just 200 years old but more like 60 thousand
when the sun first came up and the dreamtime begun
an aborigine lived in peace widda rest of creation
he sings "i don’t own the land, the land owns me
take only what i need and i care for country
respect the lore of my elders and the spirit inside me
never hoarding possessions coz I always roam free"

reconciliation, healing of a nation
reconciliation, healing of a nation

then the white man came down under with no invitation
say "what a nice place to put some population
if we say there’s no-one here it can’t be called invasion"
then they wiped out some of the blacks with their diseases and their guns
in 1788, 26 of january
they stuck and flag in the land and called it british colony
pretend black people had not been here for 600 centuries
slit the throats of their children and deny-a them a treaty

reconciliation, healing of a nation
reconciliation, healing of a nation

then australia had a party in 1901
they brought the states together, call it federation
they wrote a little book called the constitution
which said the black man was an animal and not a citizen
they said the aborigine was a dying race
in 50 more years, you wouldn’t see a trace
of the black black skin or the menacing face
because the genocide was happening all over the place

reconciliation, healing of a nation
reconciliation, healing of a nation

and then there was a time they stole a generation
took the baby from the breast and put em in a mission
feed em scraps feed em lies tell em blackfella is scum
and keep em from the learning of his tribe’s traditions
they take away the woman put her in a white house
where she slaves away for nothing and gets raped and roused
they take away the man and they stick him on a farm
where they pay him in alcohol to do his spirit harm

reconciliation, healing of a nation
reconciliation, healing of a nation

from his land and his people blacks faced separation
white man severed family and spiritual connection
they tore apart and ancient civilisation
then they throw him in a jail to make his own extinction
white men drinking black blood in a government chair
they committed genocide singing ‘advance australia fair’
well the time has come for some recognition
to heal the nation it’s time for reconciliation

reconciliation, healing of a nation
reconciliation, healing of a nation