DOBBY - I Can't Breathe - Featuring BARKAA
Written by Rhyan Clapham and Chloe Quayle
Production by Rhyan Clapham
Mixed and Mastered by Tom Garnett at 301 Studios
Photography by Luke Currie-Richardson
Vyva Entertainment
"I Can't Breathe" were the last words of both George Floyd in Minneapolis, and Dunghutti man David Dungay Jr in Long Bay Prison (Sydney, Australia) right before they were murdered at the hands of police.
Five years since his (filmed) murder, not one officer in the footage of David Dungay's murder has been convicted.
In this song, DOBBY and BARKAA call for immediate action to bring justice to the families of the 438 Indigenous people who died in police custody since the 1991 Royal Commission into Indigenous Deaths In Custody.
***
Sick of having to explain myself
they wanna know the history the pain might help,
they making me wild, need to restrain myself
If I were you, I would educate myself
They want me to hate myself,
degrade, dismiss and erase myself,
They said Australia and America’s not the same,
I say David Dungay, they don’t even know the name
That’s b*******! write to your member tell ‘em what’s happening
You gotta challenge the white settler narrative
Got a lotta books that call us nomadic savages
Maybe that’s a connection to them attacking’ us
Government thinking up any other solution
But truth leads to Treaty and revolution
Killers acquitted, your silence is killin’,
Give us your platform so your people can listen,
First came the massacres, then came the mission,
then stole the children, then filled the prison
No wonder our people do not trust the system;
Over 400, not one conviction, shame!
No justice, and no peace
They won’t charge the police
They both said “I can’t breathe”
They both said “I can’t breathe”
No justice, and no peace
They won’t charge the police
They both said “I can’t breathe”
They both said “I can’t breathe”
He died when you choked him on his back in the pen
The 5 were some untrained angry men
So why are you surprised it was actually them?
And what would happen if there were no cameras then?
If you’re white, come and fight with your Blackfella friends
And write down the number of their badge with a pen,
The value of a life we shouldn’t have to defend
And saying Sorry means it never happens again
Some of these cops musta been bullied in PE
to kill mob, that’s why Kaepernick took a knee,
Donald Trump’s calling that a lack of respect,
but what do you call a knee to the back of your neck, huh?
This s***’s as bad as it gets,
cause some of these coppers really don’t know how to protect,
and it’s legitimised, see they’re trynna minimise genocide
No more twitter fights, ‘cause the revolution televised, go!
No justice, and no peace
They won’t charge the police
They both said “I can’t breathe”
They both said “I can’t breathe”
No justice, and no peace
They won’t charge the police
They both said “I can’t breathe”
They both said “I can’t breathe”
You bring violence to my motherland then blame me for it,
Then expect me to be silent and than thank you for it,
I ain't thankful, they been killin’ my people by the masses,
And I'm fed up to the neck by you right-wing fascists,
I feel anger when my people feel anger, that's connection,
We're angry for a reason cause our babies need protecting,
I'm scared to send them out cause their colour is a weapon
And when they walk through the streets people somehow feel threatened
Just stop! We only want the system to be civilised,
You televise your point of view then feed the sheeps full of lies,
You bought the divide when you set up all the missions
And you still cause divide killing my people in prisons
I'm sick of it, sick and tired of the thick of it,
Picture it, walk in our shoes get a sniff of it,
You feelin it? Nah you choose to show no respect,
How about so called Australia gets their knees off our necks!
No justice, and no peace
They won’t charge the police
They both said “I can’t breathe”
They both said “I can’t breathe”
No justice, and no peace
They won’t charge the police
They both said “I can’t breathe”
They both said “I can’t breathe”
[Donate to the Aboriginal Legal Service.]