"The Rise Of The Black Messiah" lyrics - INDIGO GIRLS

They called you the rise of the black messiah
Like so many boys before you
And there will be more, more to follow
Threatening and hard to swallow

I'm sitting underneath that hanging tree
Just me and the ghost of the KKK
Poor man's gallows in the middle of the woods
The saddest tree that ever stood

My friend I heard you tell of slavery's end
But have you heard of mass incarceration
That ol' Jim Crow he just keeps getting born
With a new hanging rope for the black man's scourge

Hey ol' man river, what do you know
Bout plantation they call Angola?
The devil spawned a prison there
The saddest farm that ever lived

Now your great grand-daddy
He worked that land with shackles on his feet and on his hands
He built them levees
He chopped that cane
He died in the mud in his chains
Now you stand where he once stood
Shackles on you all the same

But he's gonna rise
He's gonna rise
And all them lynchers are gonna be damned
When outta that mud walks a brand new man

They called you the rise of the black messiah
Said they'd do any damn thing the could to keep ya
You and your brothers from spreading the word
The gospel of freedom and the black man's worth

Forty years in solitary
Consider the man that they just can't bury
I got this letter in my hand
Saying tell this story when you can

He's gonna rise
He's gonna rise
And all them lynchers are gonna be damned
When outta that hole walks a brand new man