Ghost of Kalief Browder

Oh, on that night I had came from a Party on 3rd Avenue with some friends And I was going home and that's when I was stopped by police officers And they was explaining to me That there was a guy in one of their police Cars that was saying that I allegedly robbed Him, and they had searched me and the guy Actually at first he said I robbed him I didn't have anything on Me and that's when You say nothing, you mean no weapon And none of his property? No weapon, no money, anything he said that I Allegedly robbed him for They told me freeze, I can't run far So now I'm stuck Handcuffed inside the cop car Told me I'm wanted in Connection with a robbery The witness said he wasn't sure But it was probably me Told 'em I'm innocent I swear it really wasn't me The cop laughed and just Kept on fingerprinting me Asked me my age and I told him barely sixteen Read me my rights Didn't know what them shit's mean Inside a room The lady asking me like where I was? Taking pictures of my tats Was I crip or blood? I repeat I wasn't there, I was in my home Are y'all finished? are y'all done? Now can I go home? They put me back inside a Cell with that pissy smell Where niggas layin' on the bench and On the floor as well Blew a pin, cheese sandwiches I wasn't smilin' At my arraignment judge told 'em Take me to the Island He set bail, what the hell I can't post that My mama poor, all this over a backpack? The folk building where they took Me I heard stories 'bout Where adolescents chew rocks and Spit razors out Just a boy but they forcing me to be a man And my in the day room got me throwin' hands They tryna jump me but I'm fighting Back with all my might Dirty CO's just watchin', let 'em beat me twice, this can't be life Got me thinkin' I should take my own At nights I cried Fantasizing that they send me home I miss my family These days turning into months Ride to that courthouse on this filthy bus I want my trial but the DA Said they still ain't ready And since I fight back they Put me in solitary twenty-three locked down Ain't no commissary Write letters, stand strong Mama don't you worry i feel trapped Got me livin' where the mice at I feel darkness in this cage Where the lights at? Countin' the bricks on the wall Think I lost my mind i can't take it Lately contemplating suicide I can't believe I been here And three years past all charges dropped Finally being free at last My whole family is happy That I'm finally back But what they took from me I am never getting back Look how they stole my childhood And they beat me soft Comin' home slightly different than I was before it was horror All the memories at night haunt me Wakin' up screamin' Thinkin' that the CO's on me I'm hearing voices now, I'm paranoid Who do I trust? Tryna find my way, gettin' harder to adjust I can't take it Please somebody get this pressure off me Man I'm feelin' like God ain't Throw a blessing towards me I feel the love but the demons In my head is louder The court-appointed lawyer that they gave Me did me fouler i'm depressed, sorry mom I couldn't make you prouder I give up, take my own life, Kalief Browder "The judge told me that if I plead guilty, I Would be released from jail that same day But I didn't do it! You're Not gonna make me say I did something just so I can go home" When we first met him November of Last year, he was doing better He said earned his GED, started Classes at Bronx Community College Pulling a 356 GPA but The psychological trauma From jail had taken it's toll "When he first came home He would just walk the four Corners of the driveways" "You hear animals do That have been confined to a space" "Yes, he did it and I had to watch My baby go through all of that" In the last year, Kalief grew depressed Deeply paranoid "You know deep down I'm a mess i feel like I'm a grown old man" And then, two Saturdays ago, two years After his release from jail Kalief Browder hanged himself with an Air conditioner cord in His home in the Bronx he was 22