Innocent Lives

”On the day that news of Ahmaud Arberry’s murder hit the news, my heart broke once again at the injustice in our world. I posted the video of “Rose Petals” to my social media as a response and my sister in law saw the post and sent me a text message. My brother and sister-in-law have two precious little black boys I think often of them as I process the injustices and inequalities in our world. She said to me “I just keep thinking about my two little sons as I listen again and again...” That wrecked me. And so I sat down and wrote this song. I sent the voice memo to a few friends just to process and one wrote back instantly saying “you need to have Bobby sing this! This is his story and exactly what he’s been processing the last few days.”

Bobby and I met 3 months prior when I was in Chattanooga and knew that someday we might do something together. Never did I imagine that I would send a voice memo to a friend and two weeks later would we be sharing this song with the world. But it seems like God knew. I couldn’t have known or planned that it would be the same week as George Floyd was unjustly murdered in my home city of Minneapolis. We are really praying that this song would bring us together as our eyes are opened to the injustice and racism that exists in our world.” (Mark Alan Schoolmeesters)

INNOCENT LIVES
Written by Mark Alan Schoolmeesters (BMI)
© 2020 Common Hymnal Digital (BMI), Standing Room Only (BMI), The Underground Collection (BMI) (admin by IntegratedRights.com). CCLI 7154027.

VERSE 1
Fm                   Eb                           Cm                      Db
Just to think of my little boys with dark hair and dark skin
Fm                              Eb                              Cm
How to tell them that they’re not safe on the street
                       Db
Where do I begin?

PRE-CHORUS
Bbm                     Db/G
To say justice is blind
Ab         Db/G     Fm
Is a shortsighted lie
Bbm                Db/G
If color don’t matter
        Ab         Db/G     Fm         Db
Why is color first to die?

CHORUS
                           Ab      Db/G
I’m calling for change
               Fm                        Db
To the injustice, stand and fight
                           Ab      Db/G
I’m calling for change
                        Fm                        Db
I’m begging that we will set this right
Eb                                                       Fm      Eb       Cm         Db
That we won’t lose more innocent lives

VERSE 2
Just to think of all that’s lost when violence steals a life
Oh humanity why do we become the ugly side

PRE-CHORUS 2
If we say nothing at all
We are endorsing the crime
It’s time that we stand up
And regard the human life