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Mark Ramm's avatar

They came at dawn with badges cold as winter

But this is California, where the sun don't splinter

City of Angels, people of the light

Watch how fast that ICE melts when angels bring the fight...

Look, they thought they could freeze us, seize us, make us Jesus on the cross

Deportation nation, separation, families getting lost

But Los Angeles got guardian angels, wings spread wide like freeways

Burning swords in each hand, understand we don't need praise

We need justice in the barrio, scenario they painted

Federal agents in our faces, tainted with the hatred

Of a system that's aching to break what we've been making

Since the Zoot Suit riots, we been fighting, never faking

In a city of angels, you called our protest a riot

Think you can occupy our city? Go ahead and try it

We the people of the sun, blood running gold and copper

Seven million strong, tell me who gon' stop us?

ICE trucks in the morning, warning shots at families

But angels don't abandon ship, we stand for all our casualties

Burning swords illuminate what darkness tried to hide

When the federal storm comes, we the ones who turn the tide

Angels with the burning sword

Rising from the 213

People of the sun, we won't run

This is what resistance means

Watch the ICE melt in the fire

When the righteous start to burn

City of Angels, people of the sun

Every lesson that they'll learn

Gabriel's horn in Boyle Heights, seraphim in East LA

Cherubim in Compton, watch 'em come and take the day

Every homeboy an angel when the feds try to suppress

Every mother Mary weeping, but she fighting nonetheless

Burning swords cut through the lies they televised to terrify

Very eyes that witnessed Rodney know they terrorize and mystify

But we crystallized our purpose when they cuffed our senator

Handcuffs on elected officials? This is what we're centered for

Entered war with constitutional law on our side

Burning bright against the night, angels never hide

People of the sun don't run from marines with guns

We the golden state, the stolen fate that freedom never shuns

They militarized our neighborhoods, gentrified our hope

But angels sharpen burning swords on each and every slope

From Inglewood to Hollywood, we understood the mission

When ICE becomes the enemy, resistance ain't submission

It's reclamation, education, celebration of the light

People of the sun been burning since the genesis of fight

Rising from the 213

People of the sun, we won't run

This is what resistance means

Watch the ICE melt in the fire

When the righteous start to burn

City of Angels, people of the sun

Every lesson that they'll learn

Michael with the flaming blade at Eden's gate

But this time we're not cast out, this time we create

A sanctuary in the city where the angels congregate

Where federal intimidation meets its righteous fate

We are the burning bush that never gets consumed

We are the pillar of fire when democracy's entombed

We are the people of the sun, and our skin holds the heat

That melts every ICE agent on every LA street

See, they don't understand the alchemy of struggle and divinity

How the people of the sun burn with ancient infinity

Every deportation raid just fans the flames higher

Every handcuffed senator adds fuel to the fire

We inherit revolution from the Aztec and the Maya

California dreaming meets the spirit of Zapata

Angels with the burning sword don't fight for earthly kings

We fight for constitutional law and all the freedom brings

From the Pacific to the mountains, valleys to the desert

Every angel in this city got a blade that stays alert

Burning through deception, resurrection of the truth

People of the sun stay young, eternal in our youth

So when they roll up with their war machines and riot gear

Tell 'em angels with the burning sword been stationed here for years

Been protecting and correcting every federal mistake

City of Angels, people of the sun, this is what we make:

Revolution in the making, liberation in the light

When ICE meets burning swords, there ain't gon' be no fight

Just melting, just helping, just the end of their charade

When the people of the sun call on angels we have made

[Final Chorus - Full choir, triumphant] Angels with the burning sword

Rising from the golden state

People of the sun, we won't run

This is how we seal their fate

Watch the ICE melt in the fire

When the righteous start to burn

City of Angels, people of the sun

Every lesson that they'll learn

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Amy Wright's avatar

Love the line "ICE melts when angels bring the fight."

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Mark Ramm's avatar

"When ICE meets burning swords, there ain't gon' be no fight

Just melting, just helping, just the end of their charade

When the people of the sun call on angels we have made!"

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Katie Davis's avatar

WOW. Introducing us to awesome possibilities when we unite.

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Mark Ramm's avatar

Thanks. I am working a full album of songs about the protests. More to come.

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