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De​-​Occupy Hawaii

from Spite Machine by Flower Crown Me A Queen

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about

I was born and raised in Hawaiʻi, and as someone who is not Hawaiʻian by blood, I do not consider it my home. This song is about growing up in occupied native land, bearing witness to the mistreatment of native peoples by the local and federal governments, and by the rich white people who moved there and refer to it as theirs. It is a retelling of history by someone who benefitted from the violence from the bloodshed, and I make no attempts to distance myself from what happened. Listen to the song, and listen to Kānaka Maoli, and then continue to listen to them. Hawaii was never ours, and it will never be ours. Support Hawaiʻian Sovereignty. Decolonization now!

This track includes clips of Dr. Haunani Kay-Trask, a Hawaiʻian writer, educator, and political scientist. The first clip is from a 1990 episode of Island Issues discussing racism in Hawaiʻi, and the second clip is from her 1993 speech at ʻIolani Palace at a demonstration commemorating the 100 year anniversary of the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiʻian Monarchy by white american businessmen.

lyrics

Am, Dm, F, E
F, Am, E

Just cause I was born there doesn't mean that it's my home
Stolen by a coup d'état of white men long ago
Throwing out the natives where the fuck they gonna live?
Waiting for the day when they can take back what they missed

A nation that claims freedom but we'll take your land with ease
Throw you on some homesteads where your poverty's disease
Can only be seen by the homeless camps along the beach
Sweep you under one big rug so tourists won't see

We took your way of life
And blasted it to hell
Cleared way for every businessman
To retire or sell
Land that isn't his
To folks that aren't yours
And we'll pretend not to notice
The blood on your shores

Just because we stole it doesn't mean it's ours to own
No treaty, no agreements, just a rape for us to sow
We certainly know how to get away with it
Make a fake paradise but no one can afford it

Put battleships and army barracks on your bays and fields
Bomb the fuck out of your islands so no one else can steal
We called dibs, we say it's fine, we've improved your life
If you don't like it, you can leave, or you can stay and die

Breakdown (Am, Dm, E x3, F, E) x2

We took your way of life
And blasted it to hell
Cleared way for every businessman
To retire or sell
Land that isn't his
To folks that aren't yours
And we'll pretend not to notice
The blood on your shores

credits

from Spite Machine, released October 22, 2018

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Flower Crown Me A Queen Denver, Colorado

Hi we're a couple of queerdos that write songs that are punk and folk and everywhere in between. Fuzzed out violins, fast paced guitars, singing our hearts out. Learning to wield hope like a baseball bat <3

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