Michael Reinohl

Soundcloud. In commemoration of Michael Reinohl, who was murdered by federal law enforcement agents after killing Aaron Danielson, a far right militant who was attacking Michael and his friend in Portland. 

D G D
Michael Reinohl was down on his luck
G D Bm A
Had been a contender, ‘til time slowly struck
D G D
He scratched out his living with odd jobs and building
G D Bm A
‘Til the uprising broke in the wake of a killing
D Bm G A
By a cop who planted his knee on the neck
Of a man stood accused of a counterfeit check
And Mike like a sailor who was always on deck
took a rope in the storms, to hold off the wreck
And spoke calm into anger, with his own in check
G Bm A D
And it don’t take a hero, just to take a stand
G D A D
Fascism’s buried by ordinary hands

The flags from the trucks in the winds were a-whippin’
The boasts from their tongues with a venom was dripping
As the President’s men like a conquering army
Roamed through the streets, just a-lookin’ for Charlie
Aaron Danielson rode to town with the parade
It was not his first time, he had joined the crusade
Where Proud Boys talked loud and the Patriots prayed
he’d met Jeremy Christian- friends they were made
Who onto a train had plunged death with his blade
And Danielson washed him in glory and praise
And it don’t take a hero, just to take a stand
Fascism’s buried by ordinary hands

Danielson walked with a swing and a swagger
Riding high and he cut through the night like a dagger
Pumped up in his pride and his rage he was spitting
And he pulled out the mace for the spraying and the hitting
With a club and a gun at his waist for the fight
But a shattering of drums and a flashing of light
And his body was burnt by the hollow point’s bite
And the mist of his weapon floated into the night
And Michael and his friend took off in a flight
While the medics pressed ‘round and helped Danielson fight
And it don’t take a hero, just to take a stand
Fascism’s buried by ordinary hands

The right stood in rage to see the man dyin’
That some of their bullets back at them were flyin’
High from the blood that was spilled in Wisconsin
Now one of their own was laid into a coffin
Knocked back from the blow like a fighter a-stumbling
Their fear it was biting and their rage it was rumbling
For rage held the walls of their fortress from crumbling
The walls that were groaning as stones came a-tumbling
And it don’t take a hero, just to take a stand
Fascism’s buried by ordinary hands

The agents came to, all silent and wordless
Their guns at the ready, their eyes steeled with purpose
No time for a judgement, no time for repentance
They came and the saw and they pass-ed their sentence
The speed of a bullet was the time he could run
It wasn’t for revenge, it wasn’t even for fun
They shot Michael down just to show anyone
Who’d stand between a fascist and his victim with a gun
And it don’t take a hero, just to take a stand
Fascism’s buried by ordinary hands

Some good people say- in the laws you must trust
And the long arch of history will turn towards the just
And they think not on how their freedoms were watered
And they eat of the meat that some other has slaughtered
But the President stared with a pit in his eye
And spoke with a voice of a king up on high
And told his proud boys to stand back and stand by
Who don’t give a damn for your virtues so high
But it don’t take a hero, just to take a stand
Fascism’s buried by ordinary hands