Ghost of Kalief Browder - Maino

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 shits 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 3.56 GPA.

But the psychological trauma from jail had taken its 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