The coffee’s steaming on the wooden shelf
While someone’s neighbor is no longer themselves
A knock at sunrise, a shadow on the floor
And now there’s silence behind the blue door.
We check the headlines, then we check the time
As if the distance makes it less of a crime
But the pavement remembers the weight of the feet
Of the ones they are taking from our very street.

The law is a garment that’s tearing at the seams
They’re harvesting shadows and crushing the dreams
Of the hands that built the harvest we eat.

Silence makes us complicit, it grows into a wall
If we don't stand for one, we’re gonna watch them all fall.
In the city of lakes, in the heart of the plains
The ink on the paper is binding the chains.
Neutrality is a ghost, a hollow disguise
Complicity is born when we close our eyes.

Paperwork excuses for a life torn apart
A zip tie for a zip code, a hollowed-out heart.
They talk about safety while they’re planting the fear
Removing the people we’ve loved for a year.
The grocery, the schoolyard, the place where we pray
Is turning to ghosts in the light of the day.
And if I say nothing, then I’ve signed the line
Between your stolen freedom and mine.

Silence makes us complicit, it grows into a wall
If we don't stand for one, we’re gonna watch them all fall.
In the city of lakes, in the heart of the plains
The ink on the paper is binding the chains.
Neutrality is a ghost, a hollow disguise.

Every person is a temple, every soul is a home
But we let them be exiled, left to wander alone.
The border isn't distant, it’s right at the gate
And "I didn't know" is a century too late.

It’s a century too late!

Silence makes us complicit, it grows into a wall
If we don't stand for one, we’re gonna watch them all fall.
In the city of lakes, in the heart of the plains
The ink on the paper is binding the chains.
Neutrality is a ghost, a hollow disguise.

Open your eyes...
Don't let the silence win.
Open your eyes...
Before the walls close in.



    Blues