Colorado Witness

Colorado Witness [Processional — pipe organ alone, slow and solemn, congregation settling] [organ chord slow x6] [bass choir hum enters bar 4] [four part choir breath in together] [piano enters soft bar 6] [hand clap pulse begins bar 8] [Deacon Reading 1 — single bass voice, slow and measured, reading the record] Curtis Arganbright Westminster Police Department Colorado August twenty four Two thousand seventeen He picked up a woman handcuffed from the hospital He stopped the car He made her get out He forced her onto the hood of his own patrol car while she was still in cuffs He told her do not tell anyone and handed her his card He pleaded guilty Unlawful sexual contact Official misconduct Both misdemeanors The judge gave him ninety days Ninety days And the congregation said [Choir Response 1 — full choir four part harmony, slow gospel swell] LORD HAVE MERCY ON THIS BROKEN SCALE NINETY DAYS FOR WHAT HE DID TO HER LORD HAVE MERCY THE WOMAN IN THE CUFFS STILL CARRIES WHAT HE DID LORD HAVE MERCY LORD HAVE MERCY [Deacon Reading 2 — bass voice again, same measured pace, second receipt] Randy Roedema Aurora Police Department Colorado August twenty four Two thousand nineteen Elijah McClain Twenty three years old Walking home From a convenience store Violin strings in his bag He wore a ski mask because his anemia made him cold Someone called him sketchy Roedema and his fellow officers took him to the ground put him in a carotid hold held him down while he vomited while he said I cannot breathe while he said I am an introvert I am different Three days later Elijah McClain was dead Roedema was the only officer convicted Criminally negligent homicide Fourteen months County jail With work release He went home at day And the congregation said [Choir Response 2 — fuller than first, soprano rises over the choir] [soprano lead] Elijah was just walking home [full choir answers] LORD HAVE MERCY [soprano] He said I am different I am just different [full choir] LORD HAVE MERCY FOURTEEN MONTHS FOR A LIFE LORD HAVE MERCY FOURTEEN MONTHS AND HE WENT HOME IN THE DAY LORD HAVE MERCY [Congregational Verse — piano and organ together, choir hums beneath, testimony building] Now hear the name of Eric Brandt Navy submarine veteran Who came home And watched them wake the unhoused With horns in the dark And decided he would not look away He stood on the corners of this same Colorado with his sign and his camera and his eight letters He filed the lawsuits He won them He changed the law He made them put cameras on the very departments that kept coming for him Two hundred arrests For standing on the sidewalk Doing what the Constitution says he had the right to do And when his words went wrong When he said things a judge did not want to hear That same Colorado that gave Arganbright ninety days That same Colorado that gave Roedema fourteen months with work release gave Eric Brandt twelve years [Full Choir Testimony — biggest choir moment, organ full, bass drum pulse, righteous and documented] TWELVE YEARS FOR WORDS IN THE SAME STATE WHERE NINETY DAYS WAS ENOUGH FOR WHAT ARGANBRIGHT DID TWELVE YEARS FOR WORDS IN THE SAME STATE WHERE FOURTEEN MONTHS WITH WORK RELEASE WAS ENOUGH FOR ELIJAH TWELVE YEARS TWELVE YEARS COLORADO GAVE HIM TWELVE YEARS FOR WORDS THAT NEVER TOUCHED A SOUL TWELVE YEARS SOMEBODY WITNESS THIS SOMEBODY WRITE THIS DOWN TWELVE YEARS [Bridge Lament — soprano alone over organ, grief not anger, bare and honest] [soprano solo] We are not saying every word he said was right Lord knows we are not saying that We are saying ninety days and fourteen months and twelve years cannot live in the same justice They cannot breathe the same air and call it equal Elijah McClain said I am just different and they held him down until he was gone and the man who held him went home in the afternoon every day of his fourteen months Eric Brandt said words that a judge did not want to hear and Colorado gave him twelve years We lay these facts before the congregation We lay them at the altar and we ask Lord what scale is this what scale is this [Final Chorus — every voice full organ full choir bass drum solemn and certain] WITNESS THE MATH COLORADO WITNESS THE MATH NINETY DAYS FOR RAPE IN CUFFS FOURTEEN MONTHS FOR A LIFE TWELVE YEARS FOR WORDS WITNESS THE MATH WITNESS THE MATH WE ARE NOT LEAVING THIS ALTAR UNTIL SOMEBODY WITNESSES THE MATH TWELVE YEARS TWELVE YEARS LORD LET THE RECORD SHOW TWELVE YEARS [Recessional — organ alone returns, choir hums fading, one soprano note holds last] [organ slow chord x4] [choir hum fades bar 3] [soprano single note holds] [bass choir last low tone] [organ final chord] [silence] [the record stands]