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lyrics

Tune: 900 Miles (Traditional American Train/Work song)

Out in famous New York City
Famous for its lack of pity
That's where a man named Eric Garner used to live
He was big and Black and proud
Had friends and family all around
And despite so many hassles with police
Garner's neighbors knew him as a man of peace

Eric Garner was in town
So the cops all gathered round
They said he tried to sell some untaxed cigarettes
Garner said it wasn't true
But he broke a bigger rule
In a land where if you're Black then you're a threat
The cops showed everyone Black Lives don't matter yet

Well he told the cops I'm tired,
I'm so tired of being harassed
It was a brave thing for a poor Black man to say
And before he died he cried
I can't breathe eleven times
Pantaleo grabbed his neck and pulled him down
And the other cops helped smash his face into the ground

After Garner stopped resisting,
well the cops just stood there watching
They picked his pockets and they rolled him on his side
Several minutes slowly passed
EMTs they came at last
No CPR, they said he still was breathing then
An hour later Garner'd never breathe again

And the medical report said it was a homicide
Said they killed him when they wouldn't let him breathe
but there was no murder charge
seems it was never in the cards
Despite the testimonies and the video
the judge and jury said the cops were free to go

Yeah Eric Garner couldn't breathe
with a system round his neck
That kills a Black man just for holding cigarettes
Home of the brave, land of the free
Well, what's this mean for you and me?
It's all a sham if Black folks' lives don't matter yet
If you're not white or rich then you don't matter yet
Some kind of Freedom if the people here can't breathe

credits

from THROUGH DARK VALLEYS / 이산 II, released January 1, 2021

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Seth Mountain 이산 South Korea

Seth Martin (aka Seth Mountain or 이산), is a roots musician originally from the Pacific Northwest (US).

Continuing in the radical tradition of artists like Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, and Utah Phillips, Martin has been living in Seoul since 2015. He regularly performs with Korean and foreign folk, indie and rock acts.

"Quite possibly the closest thing we have to Woody Guthrie."
--Bill Mallonee ... more

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