Followed Every Rule

[Instrumental Intro] (full intensity from beat one, fast heavy downtuned power chords, double kick blast, no build up, maximum volume immediately) [Verse 1] (relentless fast palm-muted riffs, thick wall of distorted guitars, pounding double kick, full intensity) A kid asked her to use a different name She wrote it on the seating chart, she used it when she called on them That was it, that was all she did A parent called the principal and the principal pulled up the policy Zero tolerance, they put her in a room with no windows She said I was protecting a student That sentence is not in the meeting notes Fifteen years in a cardboard box, a substitute in her chair by one [Verse 2] (same high intensity, fast downtuned power chords, double kick drums never stopping, dense heavy distortion) He made his sign from cardboard in the recycling bin Stood on the sidewalk two hours sharing water with a stranger Then the line moved, shields, helmets, a sound he'd never heard Gas between him and the water bottle, then a rubber bullet hit his face Non-lethal, that's the word they used, he lost his left eye on the sidewalk His sign is under someone's boot Twenty-seven hours cuffed to a hospital bed, charged with resisting arrest He was standing still The officer is not named in any report [Verse 3] (same high intensity, relentless, no break between verses) He called 911 because that's the number you call Said I need help, I'm scared, the dispatcher said help is coming Four officers, body armor, commands before they're through the door He's in his kitchen in his pajamas and he's crying He flinches and flinching is resisting A knee on his neck on the tile he picked out at the hardware store He said he can't breathe and he said it again and then he stopped saying it The report says combative, 140 pounds, in his pajamas [Bridge] (half-time, stripped back, heavy and slow) A seating chart A cardboard sign A pair of pajamas A coffee mug a student gave her A water bottle Kitchen tile [Final Chorus] (full power, everything, maximum intensity) SHE LOST HER CLASSROOM HE LOST HIS SIGHT HE LOST HIS BREATH THEY DID WHAT THEY WERE TOLD THEY FOLLOWED EVERY RULE THE RULES DID NOT PROTECT THEM [End]