Somehow, on this day of nationalist celebration,
I find myself thinking of Bruce Cockburn’s Stolen Land
From Tierra del Fuego to Ungava Bay
The history of betrayal continues to today
The spirit of Almighty Voice, the ghost of Anna Mae
Call like thunder from the mountain, you can hear them say “it’s a stolen land”
Stolen land
The history of betrayal continues to today
The spirit of Almighty Voice, the ghost of Anna Mae
Call like thunder from the mountain, you can hear them say “it’s a stolen land”
Stolen land
Apartheid in Arizona, slaughter in Brazil
If bullets don’t get good PR there’s other ways to kill
Kidnap all the children, put ’em in a foreign system
Bring them up in no-man’s land where no one really wants them, it’s a stolen land
Stolen land
If bullets don’t get good PR there’s other ways to kill
Kidnap all the children, put ’em in a foreign system
Bring them up in no-man’s land where no one really wants them, it’s a stolen land
Stolen land
It’s a stolen land, but it’s all we’ve got
It’s a stolen land, and there’s no going back
It’s a stolen land, and we’ll never forget
It’s a stolen land, and we’re not through yet
It’s a stolen land, and there’s no going back
It’s a stolen land, and we’ll never forget
It’s a stolen land, and we’re not through yet
In my mind I catch a picture, big black raven in the sky
Looking at the ocean, sail reflected in black eye
Sail as white as heroin, white like weathered bones
Rum and guns and smallpox gonna change the face of home in this stolen land
Stolen land
Looking at the ocean, sail reflected in black eye
Sail as white as heroin, white like weathered bones
Rum and guns and smallpox gonna change the face of home in this stolen land
Stolen land
If you’re like me you’d like to think we’ve learned from our mistakes
Enough to know we can’t play god with others’ lives at stake
So now we’ve all discovered the world wasn’t only made for whites
What step are you gonna take to try and set things right in this stolen land?
Stolen land
Enough to know we can’t play god with others’ lives at stake
So now we’ve all discovered the world wasn’t only made for whites
What step are you gonna take to try and set things right in this stolen land?
Stolen land
It’s a stolen land, but it’s all we’ve got
It’s a stolen land, and there’s no going back
It’s a stolen land, and we’ll never forget
It’s a stolen land, and we’re not through yet
It’s a stolen land, and there’s no going back
It’s a stolen land, and we’ll never forget
It’s a stolen land, and we’re not through yet
Brian is an activist theologian, a retired CRC campus minister, the founder of the Wine Before Breakfast community, and farms with Sylvia Keesmaat at Russet House Farm.He engages issues of theology and culture, and has written a couple of books you might want to check out. His most recent offering is cowritten with Sylvia Keesmaat and entitled Romans Disarmed: Resisting Empire, Demanding Justice.