Laborer

My great grandfather was a young slave-driver
In a small diamond mine in South Africa
He arrived from Norway on a big wooden ship
And he worked for two long years with a gun and a whip.
Yes, he worked in the mines afraid and ashamed
And then he moved to North Dakota with the tokens he attained
And he put a diamond ring on my great grandmother's hand
That was stolen from the labor of an African

I am a laborer, I am a laborer
I work hard for the money, I work hard

Now the ring was passed down all the way to my Pa
Who traded it in for a hammer and a saw

I am a laborer, I am a laborer like him
I will work hard, I will work hard, I will work hard
l wake up early, about five-thirty
And I work hard, I work hard, I work hard

Now the basic tragedy of a racist legacy
Is a racisty destiny, but now there is a remedy

We can be laborers, we must be laborers
We will work hard, we will fight hard, we will work hard (x2)