Impacting community one project at a time...

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Music and Lyrics by Nolan Williams, Jr.

Spoken Word by Lucy Lawlor, Cameren Evans, Nolan Williams, Jr. & Isaiah Hodges

Commissioned by Georgetown University for Let Freedom Ring 2023.

Copyright secured, NEW-J Publishing. All rights reserved.

PROLOGUE

Sometimes I find myself running, 

my feet burnt and charred from the fire behind me,

my memories all caught up in coal combustion.

All I have is a body full of smoke.

I remember learning my red, white, and blues,

my Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue 

inside an underfunded public school.

A gleeful American history lesson 

that always came with a fog.

Sometimes the American dream sounds a lot like pitchforks and screams. 

Haunting screams from Rosewood, Ocoee, Ponce,

all forgotten pieces of our history.

Reminding us there’s still work left to do— 

that’s why we keep marching.

THE HOOK

We’re marching on 

‘cause we must keep marching on. 

We’re marching on

‘cause the truth is marching on.

VERSE 1

We’re marching on RACISM… 

The struggle is exhausting.

Not being seen when I walk into a room.

not being regarded when I open my mouth to speak,

even when I have said the same thing as another peer—

only she has less melanin, or he has less colored skin.

Being told, 

“you’re so well spoken,” 

as if that’s a surprise.

Forever branded “other” by the looks in their eyes.

There’s never a time when I can breathe,

never a time when I can relax and be free,

be me.

Without judgment. 

Without microaggressions. 

Without inequity.

VERSE 2

…XENOPHOBIA 

I remember coming home for dinner with the smell of arroz ganduales in the air.

I don’t know the first time I felt scared to be 2 halves of something or rather someone.

I remember feeling the embers burning in my throat

whenever schoolyard kids and their parents would ask, 

"What are you?" 

"Where are you from?"

I’ve spent a lifetime picking myself apart in the mirror, 

a lifetime of running,

a lifetime of assimilating,

a lifetime of people telling my father that he should’ve married better—

or perhaps they meant whiter.

“My body is tired and my feet are sore but..." 

THE HOOK

We’re marching on 

‘Cause we must keep marching on. 

We’re marching on

‘Cause the truth is marching on.  

BRIDGE 

Opposition forces 

sense their voice is 

quelled the more we persevere. 

That’s why their raging more 

And waging war

on this the last frontier 

of their inhumanity,

superiority,

inequality.

That’s why we keep marchin’

THE HOOK

We’re marching on 

‘cause we must keep marching on. 

We’re marching on

‘cause the truth is marching on.   

VERSE 3

CLASSISM…

Even in hallowed halls like this,

I feel distinctions in hierarchy persistently

showing me, you don’t belong here,

stay in your place.

They call America 

the land of the free

but what’s okay for the elite few

Is not intended for me and you.

Upward mobility is a song sung only when the fences are white

and the spoons are silver. 

White wealth, red lining, 

Black debt, pink tax:

all things masquerading as 

the American dream.

Dreams are fictional. 

Dreams are ideals. 

The scariest kind of dreams are nightmares that kill.

I’m caught in a race against forces unseen

but I can’t run off this skin 

chasing American ghost dreams.

BRIDGE           

Opposition forces 

sense their voice is 

quelled the more we persevere. 

That’s why their raging more 

and waging war

on this the last frontier 

of their inhumanity,

superiority,

inequality.

That’s why we keep,

that’s why we keep marchin’!

VAMP

We’re marching on…

voter suppression!

We’re marching on…

anti-semitism!

We’re marching on…

nisogyny!

We’re marching on…

AAPI hate!

We’re marching on…

poverty!

We’re marching on…

environmental pollution!

We’re marching on... 

'til the victory is won!

We’re marching on!

Music and Lyrics by Nolan Williams, Jr.

Commissioned by Choral Arts Society and Washington Performing Arts.

Adapted for Let Freedom Ring 2023.

Copyright secured, NEW-J Publishing. All rights reserved.

ABOUT THE SONG...

"For most of my life, I have been deeply inspired by the scriptural verse, 2 Chronicles 7:14. If the text does not readily come to mind, here it is for your immediate reference:

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (King James Version)

These words have long embodied for me the profound hope that God will eventually make right the many wrongs that trouble our land. 

In recent years, however, I have found myself challenged by the application of this verse. Too often, it is interpreted in a way that absolves us of the responsibility of being active agents of our own healing. Too often, it justifies a passive process of waiting on God (above) to move as if we have no power within to bring about the change we seek. 

With this new song, I offer a reimagining of the 2 Chronicles text to provoke and awaken our consciousness and to call us as a community to renewed action. And I do so with verses that explore four forms of justice disparities: earth, social, environmental, and economic.

As you read these lyrics and listen to the world premiere performance of this song, meditate deeply upon the meaning and application of these words." 

-Nolan Williams, Jr.

VERSE 1

Scorching sun, lands overrun,

while poisoned fields hedge tainted streams.

And scanty greens for those the most in need:

all time-endorsed disparities.

VERSE 2

Fair wage for some yielding unfair outcomes,

gender and race the pawns for games,

and cost of human life color defined

with talk of parity that’s feigned.

When will the just cry, "Enough?"

When will the righteous more demand?

At such a time as this,

we need the brave to take a stand.

REFRAIN

So, we pray to us,

call ourselves by name,

humbly asking if we’ve had enough of our own pain.

Here, now, face to face, 

will we turn from our own wicked ways?

Hear us now, we are the ones to heal our land.

VERSE 3 

The haves get more while the rest of us survive,

doing our best to make ends meet.

And chances to advance are not the same 

for the lost, the least, and all those in between.

When will the just cry, "Enough?"

When will the righteous more demand?

At such a time as this,

We need the brave to take a stand.

REFRAIN

So, we pray to us,

call ourselves by name,

humbly asking if we’ve had enough of our own pain.

Here, now, face to face, 

will we turn from our own wicked ways?

Hear us now, we are the ones to heal our land.

BRIDGE

We’ve no right to pray to God then wait with no resolve 

to accept the charge we have to act and get involved,

knowing God is calling us to right the wrong we’ve caused,

knowing God is calling us to right the wrong we’ve caused!

REFRAIN

So, we pray to us.

call ourselves by name.

humbly asking if we’ve had enough of our own pain.

Here now face to face,

will we turn from our own wicked ways?

(Tell me, will we turn away?)

Hear us now, we are the ones to heal our land.

VAMP

If not us, who?

If not now, when?

Calling me, you:

It’s time to heal our land.

It’s time to heal our land.