I remember the sound of a high speed camera shutter. Click, click, click, click, click click… I remember thinking don’t give them the satisfaction of any emotion on your face for them to print over and over. I remember feeling a man walk up behind me and almost instinctively, putting my hands behind my back. I remember thinking, “damn, no stay of execution? Jail? What the fuck?” I remember nodding to my brother and my close friend Melanie. That camera shutter still click, click, click, click. I remember being taken back to the holding cell, having to remove the laces from my black dress boots and my belt. Then the clerk emerges and says, “damn shame, everyone in that courtroom knows you’re innocent” – And that’s when it was etched in my brain permanently that the court system ain’t shit.
I remember saying to myself “damn, you shouldn’t have skipped breakfast this morning”