Whatever happened to Habeas Corpus?
Whatever happened to your day in court?
You’ll never get to see a jury
They’ve changed a natural right Into a last resort
Fifth amendment lets you keep silent
Sixth amendment guarantees a trial
We’re not free, we’ve got no rights
We traded them away and we’re living in denial
They call it justice
They call it taking a plea.
They call it justice
But it seems like extortion to me
It seems like extortion to me
It seems like we’re not really free
It’s not a matter of protecting the guilty
It’s not about having a bleeding heart
Absolute power for prosecutors
Gives them the power to rip families apart
The innocent faced with years in prison
Have no chance to let a jury decide
Take a plea, or risk your life
There’s a gun against their head their hands are tied
Chorus
More than two million are locked in prison
Who never had a chance to stand and face their peers
Remember the name of Kalief Browder
Locked away in Rikers for over three years
Three years waiting to prove his innocence
It’s a shame that we should never permit
They offered pleas, to set him free
He wouldn’t confess to a crime he didn’t commit
Heady hardcore punk from Black Aubergine has groove, heft, and an experimental edge percolating behind the blown-out surface. Bandcamp New & Notable May 23, 2023