Lillibridge Street
(c. robertson 2010)

It was just after midnight,
morning of May sixteen,
The neighbors said the streetlights
Were out on Lillibridge street.

Aiyana was asleep on the couch
While her grandmother watched TV.
In the downstairs apartment
Down On Lillibridge street

A flash grenade went through the window
It shook the house like thunder
it landed so close to Aiyana
it burned the blanket she lay under.

Officer Weekley burst into the house
Did he fire because he was scared?
But they had entered the wrong apartment,
The man they wanted was upstairs.

It was a nighttime raid by the SWAT team
For the reality TV crew
But a seven year old girl was shot and killed
It’s just too bad to be true.



















Damn the criminals
damn the police
damn
the tv shows
Reality is something else
Everybody knows.

Now, you could blame the TV show
or the people who watch each night
Sitting on their couches
In the flickering ghost light.

You could blame the Detroit police
or their TV ego trip
You could blame the poverty
That crushed all in its grip

But you couldn’t blame Aiyana
No matter how hard you tried
Seven year old girls are not criminals
And don’t deserve to die.