(short instrumental with quiet crowd chants for freedom) [Verse 1] I was just waking up in twenty-nineteen, Still learning what I didn’t know. By April of the year that followed, There was no way back to sleep anymore. They said the world was ending, And fear moved through the air. Empty shelves and covered faces, People fighting over prayer. We watched the lines get drawn in families, Friendships breaking under strain. Everybody chose a side to stand on, And nothing ever felt the same. [Pre-Chorus] I had dreams I couldn’t shake, Smoke and fire in the streets. I told him, “When the cities burn, That’s when we’ll know it’s time to leave.” But when the skyline turned to ashes, Something rose inside of me. I said, “I’m not running from my home. I was born to stand and speak.” [Chorus] When Minnesota burned, I found the fire in my chest. When the whole world split in two, I stood where truth was all I had left. I was scared, but I was called. I was small, but I was brave. And when silence felt like surrender, I learned how to use my name. When Minnesota burned, Something woke up in my soul. I lost pieces of my old life, But I found the strength to hold. [Verse 2] They told us not to gather, Not to question, not to move. But every order felt like iron Pressed against the living truth. The streets were filled with anger, The screens were filled with lies. Neighbors turned on neighbors, And the fear was weaponized. I watched the city smolder, Watched the sirens paint the night. Watched good men in uniforms Get blamed beneath the riot lights. And somewhere in the chaos, In the shouting and the smoke, I heard a voice inside me saying, “Girl, it’s time for you to go.” [Verse 3] Then came a brother in the battle, Like an answer in the storm. Two minds built from the same strange wiring, Two fighters battle-worn. I’d message, “I did a thing,” And somehow doors would open wide. One more piece would fall in place, Like heaven moved it from the other side. We planned it by the book, With our lives pushed to the side. A march became a gathering, Where the quiet found their pride. Tractors rolled around the Capitol, Voices rising in the sun. An eagle circled over us, Like a sign we weren’t alone. [Bridge] And I remember someone saying, “When God has called your name, You can list a million reasons Why someone else should take your place. But if God gave you the burden, Who are you to turn away?” And those words became an altar, Where my fear began to break. [Breakdown] I was not a public speaker. I was not prepared for war. I was just a woman watching freedom Getting dragged across the floor. I was wife, I was mother, I was tired, I was torn. But I felt the call like thunder In a year that had been warned. And while I stood in crowds and rallies, Trying to keep the flame alive, My home was growing colder, And love slipped behind tired eyes. There are costs to being present Where history is being made. Sometimes saving what you love Means losing something on the way. [Outro] So write it how they want to, Let the winners turn the page. But I know what I witnessed In that broken, burning age. I saw fear become a prison. I saw voices rise through pain. I saw strangers become family. I saw courage earn its name. And if they ask what happened, What I saw, and what I learned— Tell them I was there in twenty-twenty, When Minnesota burned.
