Stripes
Captive investments under the gun
Livestock under the warden's thumb
Watched over by machines of no love or grace, keeping out the peace
Five hundred years and counting
Swapped out your chains for bars
Emancipation was bad for business
Return the order, recoup the losses
Slavery it never ended
New World, it never began
Rerouted back to the cage
Blood money changes hands every step of the way
Locked into dead end cycles
Profiled and fingerprinted
Rerouted back to the cage
The original theme, captivity for profit
Master and slave, owner and object
Plantations for assembly lines, dressed up and modernized
Can you see the stars through the iron bars tonight?