Chapter 5 Original Savages

Part 1

They’re calling us savages . . . they’re calling us savages . . . but they are savages . . .

They’re the ones killing our women and raping our children and stealing our land

My name is Stands with the Wolves and I’m taking a stand

I come from the Kopahawakenum Band

Fuck Parliament they eliminate hope

Word to the rope around Louis Riel’s throat!

They weakened us with diseases, alcohol, diabetes, false treaties . . .

Then conquered us because they couldn’t win in a fair fight, forced us to believe in Jesus!

They disrespected the Mother that’s beneath us

And slaughtered buffalo, to control the way they would feed us, mistreat us!

They made it look like we needed them, but they need us . . .

To feel superior, important, we were peaceful, they were morbid

We only took what we needed; they wanted more of it . . .

To make profit, they were greedy, they “gifted” us with sugar, then they sugar coated those treaties

We offered them tobacco and squash and taught them how to trap beaver

They gave us guns so we could kill each other . . .

The trees we used to make tipis were chopped down so they could make books

That way they can say to the future generations that we were the crooks

We gave to them, they took from us. Now tell me who’s truly crooked!?

A portion of the Black Hills was transformed into four ugly-ass faces of the white race after they took it.

Was that racist? I don’t care.

They created racism in the first place.

I practice Truth because Turtle Island’s my birthplace!

Part 2

Abuse booze, hate life

Mutilate, with steak knives

Prescription pills, to ease the pain

Our memories, keep us chained

Reality is a nightmare, dreamcatchers no longer catch bad dreams

Our Sacred pipe was replaced with the crack pipe; we became fiends!

Suicide became our way out; it relieved us from our suffering

Bishops hid behind religion, and denied they were touching

That’s fucking disgusting—reconciliation means nothing

The government of Canada is fronting . . .

You can’t apologize for genocide

To the ones who are dead inside

Your sincerity is a joke—We’re hungry, homeless, in jail, and broke

You blame us, but you’re guilty of every crime you created a law for

Because you couldn’t learn Cree, it died with my great grandpa

Now I got to learn things late in life

When I should’ve got taught shit, back then

I can’t relate to the Survivors, but I can empathize with what happened

Torture, pain, oppression, abuse

Betrayal, hopelessness. The consideration of a noose!

Excuse after excuse . . .

The justifications of injustice need to stop.

When the Mounties initiated the 60’s scoop, it wasn’t considered kidnapping because they were cops

Just imagine how they would feel

If we abducted their children and beat them and raped them and forced our spirituality on them

They’re incapable of putting themselves in our shoes

Cuz they got entitlement issues

Their infected views left us bruised to blossom . . .

The stereotypes surrounding Indigenous people are just reflections of the Settler’s true self . . .

They brought over the bad medicine with the intention to ruin our health—

And to exclude us from the true meaning of wealth . . .

Our connection to Gitchi Manitou

Part 3

Yo, Shut the fuck up!!

I got the eagle feather in my hand, it’s my turn to speak.

I’m from Saskatchewan where racism is at its peak.

I pace in my prison cell day-dreaming about justice;

I think about Colten and judicial corruptness.

What happened wasn’t right cuz we got no rights.

Gerald Stanley got acquitted by all twelve whites.

How the fuck can that be with a shot to the head?

Cops laugh when they find another Indian dead . . .

When the Settlers invaded Turtle Island, they rapidly took over the land and excessively hunted down the four legged . . .

Now it seems like we have become the buffalo—

They’re aiming at us like we’re game, fingers itching to shoot.

Colten’s blood on the dashboard is physical proof

We’re sitting ducks in a pond just waiting to get shot

In a spot where the blood can’t clot, BANG!

They said Colten was a thug, but I doubt that shit.

I killed a white man, called a Good Samaritan.

They make the white look right and the red look wrong;

On our own land they make us feel like we don’t belong . . .

The twisted existence of equality in the Constitution Act

Is a delusional fact

The forced covenant between cultures has been cracked!

The odds have been stacked against us . . .

These settlers’ pretentious ways are relentless!

Even though the “hang fire” defense was proven flawed

He beat charge cuz de doesn’t sweat inside of a lodge

He doesn’t apply the grease of a bear to heal

He doesn’t wave a braid of sweetgrass over every meal

How the fuck could he not even get manslaughter for killing?

Now we got to continue to fear for us and our children

Cuz the judicial system shows that the whites can murder Indigenous

Without the consequences of living as federal prisoners!