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Stolen From God

from Stolen From God by Reg Meuross

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about

Edward Colston was born into a High Anglican family in Bristol. By 1672 he had become a successful merchant with strong links to the Spanish Slave and sugar Trades. On his death he left the modern equivalent of thirteen and a half million pounds, at least six million of that to charities and ongoing support of the poor and disadvantaged.

He was a major official in The Royal African Company for eleven years, and as Tory MP for Bristol he defended the city’s rights to trade in enslaved Africans.

Records show that in the legal slaving period from 1698 to 1807 almost five hundred thousand Africans were transported by Bristol expeditions. It’s estimated that Colston was directly involved in the transportation of at least eighty thousand slaves who were forcibly kidnapped from their homeland, then transported in horrifically inhumane conditions, sometimes in up to 6 month voyages. They were chained, beaten, starved, raped, denied any dignity or human rights, separated from their loved ones, then sold into a life of brutally hard work and servitude. Given these prospects it could be said that the 20% who died in transit were the lucky ones.
For many years there has been objection to the very one-sided depiction of Colston, the Bristol philanthropist. And perhaps an earlier response from the council may have prevented
the turn of events in June 2020 when his statue was defaced and pushed into the harbour
by Black Lives Matter activists. Four of the perpetrators were later found not guilty of ‘Criminal Damages’.

lyrics

Stolen from God

God made these hands to hold and caress
He made these hands to worship and bless
He made these hands to hold my own child
God made these hands to be mild

God made these hands to pray and to praise
He made these hands to touch my mother’s face
He made these hands to hold on to you
God made these hands to be true

All the believers that you have betrayed
Your debt to humanity must be repaid
This is your legacy written in blood, everything stolen from God

God made these hands to cook and to sew
He made these hands to plough and to grow
To work for my family all the day long
God made these hands to be strong

God made these hands to be gentle and kind
To speak to the deaf and a guide to the blind
To reach for the sky to his heaven above
God made these hands for love

These are the words should be carved on your grave
The price of your fortune was 3 million slaves
This is your history written in blood, everything stolen from God

You made these hands to blister and bleed
To slave for the white man and bend to his greed
To cut coffee for gentlemen cane for their wives
At the cost of my family’s lives

credits

from Stolen From God, released April 7, 2023
Reg: Vocal / Guitar
Dan Baker : Strings

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Reg Meuross England, UK

The breadth and depth of Reg Meuross’s material is unparalleled in contemporary folk: songs about forgotten heroes, famous names, folk legends, the climate emergency, tales from the kitchen sink and news from the world stage; if something needs to be sung about then Reg Meuross has a song for it. ... more

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