We're only here to protect and serve
We're only here to protect and serve
We're only here to protect and serve
If we suspect you'll interfere, then you'll get what you deserve
We're only here to protect and serve
We're only here to protect and serve
How many necks must we crush 'til the lesson's learned?
We're only here to protect and serve
It seems policing can attract a certain type of psychopath
Who can't be satisfied without asserting mindless violent acts
And when the suspected perp's a guy that's Black, society's fine with that?
Apparently not, that's why they're reciting the riot act
Riots are the language of the unheard, who can't speak
And how can you speak one word if you can't breathe?
And how can you breathe with policemen's knees across your throat?
When politicians speak against it, they just lost the vote
And what, we're supposed to believe we're equal, but we're not supposed to live it?
Well, most of us are close to the limit and won't admit it
The status quo's hoping all those soaps are soporific
But now the clips captured on our own phones are so horrific
Folks won't forget it quick, they're prone to go ballistic
Yet history leaves the deepest lesions on its most outspoken critics
There have been legions that have pledged allegiance against prejudice
From police to priests, who breach the peace, religious fundamentalists
You get the gist, it could be just the smallest portion of our law enforcement
But reason calls for us to treat them all with caution
If there's good cops and bad cops riding side by side
Then the good cops should stop the bad cops who try to hide
We're only here to protect and serve
We're only here to protect and serve
We're only here to protect and serve
If we suspect you'll interfere, then you'll get what you deserve
We're only here to protect and serve
We're only here to protect and serve
How many necks must we crush 'til the lesson's learned?
We're only here to protect and serve
I'm so sick of seeing people of colour being treated as "other"
Each of us bleeds when we're cut, but who's cleaning the blood up?
Human beings, do you see the missing piece of the puzzle?
Specifically, it's difficult to speak when groups of people are muzzled
You wonder why people would turn up to the words of Malcolm X
After hundreds of years of treatment without worth, without respect?
When Kaepernick kneeled, it was disrespect
But it's standard practice to kneel on a citizen's neck?
Seems to be a way to keep the dissidents in check
How can you play the hand you're dealt when you're given a different deck?
Maybe my words are ignorant, maybe I'm virtue signalling
But it's way worse to sit indifferent to the hurt you're witnessing
To turn away as they inflict it on an undeserving victim
They'll commit the worst of sins while still insisting they're a Christian
Burning bridges, burning crosses, what the fuck's this system?
A godless religion at odds with its mission, but still
We're only here to protect and serve
We're only here to protect and serve
We're only here to protect and serve
If we suspect you'll interfere, then you'll get what you deserve
We're only here to protect and serve
We're only here to protect and serve
How many necks must we crush 'til the lesson's learned?
We're only here to protect and serve