This Land

from The Joke Isn't Funny But It Goes Like This by Pierce Murphy

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about

Elijah McClain was by all accounts a beautiful human being. And of all the dust that 2020's cultural reckoning kicked up, his story breaks my heart more than just about all of the heartbreaking things we've finally come to desperate terms with. Maybe because his murder happened in my backyard here in Colorado. Maybe because I can relate to him being a weird, creative, off the beaten path person. Whatever it is, his name should be inscribed on the state capital, and a statue to him should grace the grounds overlooking Aurora.

Then Texas took steps to make women second class citizens. To take away their rights over their own sovereignty. Which is about as un-American as anything I can think of. And they did it with a sneering self-righteous indignation. And this petulant minority who believes women are lesser than men have slithered their way around the levers of government so surreptitiously and complete that our safeguards actually sided with them. Disappointing doesn't begin to say it.

It's never been fair here. We've never done it all the way right. But now we have the chance to. We can see so clearly, with such unprecedented definition what is wrong and out of balance. And so we have to change it. We have to fix it. Against the will of these few who would punish the many. We have to.

lyrics

This land was made for you and me
They told Elijah McClain
As he lay in the street
Fear in his veins
Blood on his teeth
Nowhere to go but down
That's right, Elijah
This land was made for you and me

This land was made for you and me
Said in a Texas drawl
From a leather seat
Protesters swarming outside in their funny pink hats
Bawling their eyes out, yeah
Don't worry ladies
This land was made for you and me

This land was made for you and me
As a citadel
A sanctuary
From all the evils of the world
And we could run it down just like that
God's hand on our back
And you tell me, baby
Who this land was mad for