I-485 Fight: We Saved Our Homes

Lyrics

[Intro]
First, it was a whisper in the early sixties.
Then it was a line of red ink on a map.
A scar planned for the city's heart.
They called it Interstate four-85.
They called it progress.

[Verse 1]
It was a straight line through a crooked world.
Through the porches of the Old Fourth Ward.
Through the Victorian homes of Inman Park.
Ten thousand people in the path.
A clean cut. A quick death.
They used words like 'corridor' and 'connector'.
We heard the sound of the bulldozer's engine.
We saw the dust of our foundations rising in the air.

[Chorus]
But a voice rose up from the neighborhoods.
From the church basements and the living rooms.
'We've got to stop building highways through the hearts of cities.'
We do not want the road!
We are here to save our homes!

[Verse 2]
Louise Watley poured the coffee, nineteen 1968.
She drew the neighbors together, she didn't hesitate.
Irene Key stood firm in the Fourth Ward, a fighter true and clear.
She said, 'If we don't stand up now, there'll be no homes left here.'
From Candler Park to Druid Hills, the message was the same.
This map is not our future. We will not play this game.

[Chorus]
And the voice rose up from the neighborhoods.
From the church basements and the living rooms.
'We've got to stop building highways through the hearts of cities.'
We do not want the road!
We are here to save our homes!

[Bridge]
Governor Carter gave us a breath in 'seventy-one.
A moratorium. A moment's peace beneath the sun.
But the ghost of the highway returned in the eighties, mean and loud.
The 'Road Busters' took the streets, a proud and stubborn crowd.
Chanting 'No More Roads!' for years and years.
Fighting back the planners, fighting back the fears.

[Outro]
Nineteen ninety-one.
The fight was over. The fight was won.
They tore up the blueprints for I-four-85.
And in its place, they let the green things thrive.
They planted trees where concrete was to be.
And they called the parkway 'Freedom'.
For you. And for me.