We Americans

C G C
C G F
C G F


[Verse 1]

  G                             
I grew up with reverence for the 
 C
red, white, and blue
         F                G       
Spoke of God and liberty, reciting
               C
 the pledge of allegiance
        G                       C
Learned love of country from my own 
family
     F                   G        
Some shivered and prayed 
                  C
approaching the beaches of Normandy
    G                          C
The flag waves high and that's how 
it should be
   F                    G         
So many lives given and taken in 
           C
the name of freedom
        G                       C
But the story's complicated and hard
 to read
F                 G              
Pages of the book obscured or 
               C     G
torn out completely


[Chorus]

       C      G     C
I am a son of uncle Sam
      C   G       F              
And I struggle to understand the 
C    G   F
good and evil
        C         G      C
But I'm doing the best I can
     C     G        F            
In a place built on stolen land 
    C  G   F
with stolen people


[Post-Chorus]
C                          G
Blood in the soil with the cotton 
and tobacco
G                          C
Blood in the soil with the cotton 
and tobacco
F                          G     
Blood in the soil with the cotton
              F
 and tobacco


[Verse 2]

  G                     C
A misnamed people and a kidnapped 
race
F                       G        
Laws may change, but we can't 
                  C
erase the scars of a nation
   G                     C
Of children devalued and disavowed
F                          G     
Displaced by greed and the 
                C
arrogance of manifest destiny
G                             C
Short-sighted to say it was a long 
time ago
Continues after the ad
    F                        G    
Not even two life times have 
                    C
passed since the days of Lincoln
    G                          
The sins of Andrew Jackson, the 
 F
shame of Jim Crow
    F                       
And time moves slow when the 
 G                    C            G
tragedies are beyond description



[Chorus]

       C      G     C
I am a son of uncle Sam
      C   G       F              
And I struggle to understand the 
C    G   F
good and evil
        C         G      C
But I'm doing the best I can
     C     G        F            
In a place built on stolen land 
    C  G   F
with stolen people
       Am   G        C          
We are more than the sum of our 
F
parts
          Am     G         C      
All these broken homes and broken 
F
hearts
              Am   G  C           
God, will you keep us wherever we 
F
go?
            Am   G      C        
Will you forgive us for where 
   F
we've been?
   G
We Americans


[Post-Chorus]
C                           G
Blood on the table with the coffee 
and the sugar
G                           C
Blood on the table with the coffee 
and the sugar
F                           G    
Blood on the table with the 
                 F
coffee and the sugar


[Verse 3]
     G                       C
I've been to every state and seen 
shore to shore
    F                        G
The still open wounds of the Civil 
War
G                    C
Watched blind hatred bounce back and
 forth
F                   G        
Seen vile prejudice both in the 
                 C
south and the north
    G                 C
And accountability is hard to impose
   F                   G          
On ghosts of ancestors haunting 
               C
the halls of our conscience
        G                     C
But the path of grace and goodwill 
is still here
    F                     
For those of us who may be 
 G                    C       C 
considered among the living
C/B Am G



[Chorus]
       C      G       C
I am a son of God and man
      C   G     F              C
And I may never understand the 
    G   F
good and evil
      C      G         C
But I dearly love this land
C       G  F               C  G
Because of and in spite of We The 
   F
People
       Am   G        C          
We are more than the sum of our 
F
parts
          Am     G         C      
All these broken bones and broken 
F
hearts
              Am   G  C           
God, will you keep us wherever we 
F
go?
           Am   G      C          
Can you forgive us for where we've 
 F
been?
   G          F
We Americans
   G
We Americans


[Post-Chorus]
C                           G
Love in our hearts with the pain and
 the memory
G                           C
Love in our hearts with the pain and
 the memory
F                           C
Love in our hearts with the pain and
 the memory
G
Love
C                           G
Love in our hearts with the pain and
 the memory
G                           C
Love in our hearts with the pain and
 the memory
F                           C    
Love in our hearts with the pain 
                G
and the memory
C                           G
Love in our hearts with the pain and
 the memory
G                           C
Love in our hearts with the pain and
 the memory
F                           C
Love in our hearts with the pain and
 the memory
G
Love
C                           G
Love in our hearts with the pain and
 the memory
G                           C
Love in our hearts with the pain and
 the memory
F                           G    
Love in our hearts with the pain 
                F
and the memory