Intro: Fast Eddy took a video of the whole incident 

V1:   Jamal walking fast and listening to a beat
Like his headphones connect directly to his feet
Got an black china doll in his left hand 
The homeys on the stoops wouldn’t understand

But that’s okay, Moms is gonna smile
Been wanting this doll a long, long while
Second job at the diner lets her out at 3:00
Jamal will have her present sittin’ under the tree

Cop says, “Hey, put your hands up, Boy
Where you runnin’ to with that stolen toy?”
“It’s not a toy, it’s a real antique”
Cop says, “We got us a smart-ass freak”

I got a receipt, he reaches in his pocket
Cop pulls a gun, Jamal hears him cock it
Second cop rides him face down, knee in his back
Doll goes flying, Jamal sees it’s face crack

Two broken black faces starin’ ‘cross the asphalt
In the red white and blue cop car lights
It’s still a white Christmas ‘round here
For everyone else it’s a 
You-have-the-right-to-remain-Silent
 
Night as dark as a black man’s dreams 
Holy
Night when another black mother screams
Christmas child handcuffed tight
On a you-have-the-right-to-remain silent night

Fast Eddy took a video of the whole incident

V2: Fast Eddy wasn’t fast, that was just his name
Ran six blocks to the diner just the same 
He saw two cops from the Black Lives rally
So he waited for Moms in the shadows of an alley

Moms came stumblin’ from the diner on her lame leg
In a borrowed dress that smelled like bacon and eggs
Friend drivin’ by pulls up to the curb
“Here’s that twenty I owe you,” he hands it to her

Cop says, “Stumblin’ drunk and turnin’ tricks
 On Christmas Eve, you make me sick.”
Grabs her arms real tight so he’s sure he’ll bruise her
Tells his black partner, “Put this trash in the cruiser”

Partner has to choose being a cop or being black
His kids need groceries, he cuffs her hands behind her back
“My purse I need it—the only thing that’s mine”
He puts the handles round her head-hangs it like a sign

If that sign had words it would say in bold letters
“Innocent until proven black” so don’t fight
It’s still a white Christmas ‘round here
For everyone else it’s a you-have-the-right-to-remain-
Silent 
Night as dark as a black man’s dreams
Holy
Night when another black mother screams
Mother and child both handcuffed tight
On a you-have-the-right-to-remain silent night

Fast Eddy fell to his knees
	He thought he could hear angel voices
	Had a phone in his hand and a bullet in his chest
	Cops had taken away all his dreams and choices
	They wanted that phone with the video in it
	So they ended his life in a New York minute
	He fell on his face and tried to believe
	A miracle would save him on Christmas Eve
	
Acapella:
Snow started falling, painting the bloodstained sidewalk
	pure white 
 it’s still a White Christmas round here
	For everyone else it’s a you-have-the-right-to-remain
 
 	Silent	
	 You have the right to remain
	They shut you up to shut you down
	Silent
	Trying to get you to leave this town
	You have the right to remain