The verses and choruses are all about forms of acceptance but for different groups. I feel scott51600 had it very well put for the verses as it seems to be them asking people to accept them for who they are. Arbitrary differences (which aren't even mentioned like skin color---I don't know why one reviewer here noted they're "anti-white") such as skin color or what-have-you shouldn't separate people.
"You like our hair, you love our music
Our culture's large, so you abuse it
Take time to understand, I'm an equal man"
This verse is particularly salient for this point because you can go in pretty much any point or region with extreme racism and find them adopting minority culture from the minorities they actively dislike. For instance, in the early to mid 1900s, the white Southerners adopting blues music from the African-Americans they were actively subjugating during the era. Elvis Presley was notorious for taking songs from African-Americans and actively claiming them as his own and refusing to give credit.
Or professional wrestling. Even in extremely racist crowds and eras, African-American wrestlers would often be highly successful, such as Bobo Brazil in the 1950s. You can skip forward a bit to the 1970s and see "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, a white guy who would probably be considered as using "AAVE (African-American Vernacular English)" now.
Anyway, the point of the verse is trying to tell people that you like what they do, which is a part of who they are, so you should also try to understand and like them, too. It does seem a bit of an anachronism how often virulent racists or bigots tend to adopt major parts of cultures of people they hate so much. If they hate the people, how do they like what they output creatively?
The chorus is actually about a specific group of people and it's not African-Americans.
"History's a lie that they teach you in school
A fraudulent view called the golden rule
A peaceful land that was born civilized
Was robbed of its riches, its freedom, its pride"
It's in reference to Native Americans. History often tells us they're "savages" or that they didn't "cooperate" (implying the Europeans were justified in mistreating them because "they broke the golden rule") with the White Europeans invading the continent. History very often lies about how awfully said White Europeans treated them. The extent of how awful events like the Trail of Tears were, and so on, is often hidden or underplayed.
Just looking up Andrew Jackson should make any grown man cry in rage with how absurdly genocidal that maniac was, and it's even worse to know Congress was fully in support of his lunacy...
Even in this chorus, it isn't putting blame on anyone currently, because that's silly. I am not responsible for what people 250 years ago did, everyone knows that. The whole song is about breaking down ignorance and leading to acceptance in general. I'm very surprised to find it being considered divisive.
I would say the chorus is in general anti-colonialism, but I feel it strongly references Native Americans more specifically.
The verses and choruses are all about forms of acceptance but for different groups. I feel scott51600 had it very well put for the verses as it seems to be them asking people to accept them for who they are. Arbitrary differences (which aren't even mentioned like skin color---I don't know why one reviewer here noted they're "anti-white") such as skin color or what-have-you shouldn't separate people.
"You like our hair, you love our music Our culture's large, so you abuse it Take time to understand, I'm an equal man"
This verse is particularly salient for this point because you can go in pretty much any point or region with extreme racism and find them adopting minority culture from the minorities they actively dislike. For instance, in the early to mid 1900s, the white Southerners adopting blues music from the African-Americans they were actively subjugating during the era. Elvis Presley was notorious for taking songs from African-Americans and actively claiming them as his own and refusing to give credit.
Or professional wrestling. Even in extremely racist crowds and eras, African-American wrestlers would often be highly successful, such as Bobo Brazil in the 1950s. You can skip forward a bit to the 1970s and see "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, a white guy who would probably be considered as using "AAVE (African-American Vernacular English)" now.
Anyway, the point of the verse is trying to tell people that you like what they do, which is a part of who they are, so you should also try to understand and like them, too. It does seem a bit of an anachronism how often virulent racists or bigots tend to adopt major parts of cultures of people they hate so much. If they hate the people, how do they like what they output creatively?
The chorus is actually about a specific group of people and it's not African-Americans.
"History's a lie that they teach you in school A fraudulent view called the golden rule A peaceful land that was born civilized Was robbed of its riches, its freedom, its pride"
It's in reference to Native Americans. History often tells us they're "savages" or that they didn't "cooperate" (implying the Europeans were justified in mistreating them because "they broke the golden rule") with the White Europeans invading the continent. History very often lies about how awfully said White Europeans treated them. The extent of how awful events like the Trail of Tears were, and so on, is often hidden or underplayed.
Just looking up Andrew Jackson should make any grown man cry in rage with how absurdly genocidal that maniac was, and it's even worse to know Congress was fully in support of his lunacy...
Even in this chorus, it isn't putting blame on anyone currently, because that's silly. I am not responsible for what people 250 years ago did, everyone knows that. The whole song is about breaking down ignorance and leading to acceptance in general. I'm very surprised to find it being considered divisive.
I would say the chorus is in general anti-colonialism, but I feel it strongly references Native Americans more specifically.