The Ableist - Acknowledgment Lyrics

A whole lifetime of imperial lies isn't your fault
But you've got to start trying
Your commitment to change is on you alone
If you want to take part while the future unfolds

Why are you standing on grass trying so hard to grow
My partner once asked but I didn't know
Cause all I had read had not reached my soul
I was stuck on the thought that the whole world's cruel

The orgs that you're in don't somehow erase
The structures of power in which you partake
How is it we can be above such critique
When the states that we're under ensure our safety

We've got to stop trying to conquer and win
We've got to start living to act in amends
It doesn't matter if you're forgotten once dead
So long as your work is continued instead

Why are you standing on grass trying so hard to grow
I ask of you now and maybe you know
The way that you live is a reflection of soul
I promise you that not the whole world's cruel

Respect for the earth
Respect for the trees
Respect for the land
Respect for all beings
Respect for the grass
Respect for the past
Respect what remains
Respect the air we breathe

Before "mutual aid" it was simply the way
Our colonial path is what bore it a name
Before "mutual aid" it needed no name
I acknowledge my place in all we've erased