I wrote this last night and checked out the samples waiting for me this morning… Sparky’s trip-hop “Counting down” feels perfect… it even has that hopeful ending that matches the words. All of the music is his, I just mixed it and repeated some parts to extend it. Thank you for the high-quality samples, Sparky!

I was inspired by what Anand Giridharadas said on The Last Word. It gives me hope. And I hope this spoken word gives you hope.

Here are the vocal stems.


WORDS

The past attacked

The past attacked
And is going to do it again

The past attacked
Is going to do it again
And we do not know when

But we know the past is coming

And it has us on edge
Full of anxiety for what will come
Fearful of violence we condone
Terrified that it still exists
But still… it is the past

To keep the past
In the past
Once and for all
We must see it
We must hear it
We must confront it
We must feel it
All of the horror
In plain site
For all of these years
We must look it in the eyes
We must realize that it is us
And we must choose the future

We must choose the future
While choosing to see the truth
To hear the truth
To speak the truth
To teach the truth
The truth of our past
The truth of our reprehensible past
The truth of our shameful, collective past
It cannot be buried
And cannot be ignored

Because the future is calling
The future is calling

The past has a way
Of repeating when ignored
The past has a way of simmering
Simmering
Simmering
Until the boil becomes a rapid roar
And if the heat is not removed
The bubbling boil cascades
The steam escapes
And everything in its way
Is in its’ way

And at this moment
The future is in its’ way

Because the future is almost here
And the future is full of ideals
The ideals we dreamt of
And never made true
The ideals we spoke of
And never followed through
The promise of equality
Of justice
Of peace
All of these promises
We thought we could be
But we never could
While we still ignored
This country was built
On genocide, slavery, war
And white supremacy
And we have never reached
True democracy

But the future is here
If we finally believe
And finally dismantle
Systemic inequality