New song:  "Willamette Valley" -- 170th anniversary of white supremacy
Channel: David Rovics
Date: 2020-09-28

September 27th, 1850 is the date that the Donation Land Claim Act passed by the US Congress went into effect.  This explicitly racist law played a massive role in creating the Oregon of today.

Lyrics:

Willamette Valley

When this fertile valley was stolen, it was a process assisted
By an epidemic that wiped off the Earth most any who might have resisted
The land was parceled and given away to any brave pioneer
Who was white enough to own property around here

When this fertile valley was stolen, it sealed so many a fate
Who'd no longer live by a trading post, but in a stratified settler state
With a white landed gentry created by colonial decree
We're not talking about the Bible, but a few generations of history

When this fertile valley was stolen, it was easy to foresee
That so many, many years later, there'd still be a white majority
It was engineered from the day the Exclusion Laws were made
Any pretense of inclusion since has been a sick charade

When this fertile valley was stolen, the pioneers were given their farms
Which were defended from the displaced by force of arms
And by dint of reason, as false as any that could be
Enforced by laws and customs called white supremacy

When this fertile valley was stolen, a process was set forth
To make another bastion of capitalism to the west and north
Of freshly conquered California, Arizona and the rest
Of the disease and theft and slaughter, when the pioneers went west

When this fertile valley was stolen