By admin 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (InvestigateTV) – Forgiveness is easily said, but often rarely given, just like second chances.
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For one Nashville mother, however, forgiveness and a second chance for a career criminal were on a collision course.
Clemmie Greenlee’s lesson in forgiveness came after years of tears, hatred and anger aimed at Kim Birdsong. Then decades later, in a move that’s shocked family and friends, Greenlee found peace after the unthinkable.
On December 9th, 2003, Clemmie’s only child, Rodriguez Greenlee, took his final breath after he was shot. She remembers a late-night phone call. A mad rush to the hospital, only to find her son dead.
“All I did was just climb on top of the bed on him. And I went head to head, nose to nose, lip to lip, body to body. And let him know that you’re getting your rest now. But mama ain’t gonna never, ever, let your name go.” Clemmie said.
The shooter, Kim Birdsong or “Bird,” said he was shot at first and retaliated.
“I stood there and waited,” remembered Birdsong. “I [had] seen one of the guys and it unfolded. I just, I lost my mind at the moment.”
Clemmie was also losing her mind.
“I hate you. I hate you. Whoever you are, I hate you,” Clemmie recounted her grief. “You know, you messed up my whole… I was a happy girl. I don’t care what kind of life I had. I was a happy girl. You took not only my son, you took that away from me.”
When asked how often Clemmie thought about the man who killed her son in the time that followed, she said it was constant.
“Every single second. Every single second,” Clemmie said. “I never let this man out of my mind. I don’t talk about it to my family. I don’t talk about it to no other people, but nobody. Nobody has a clue what I go through. Nobody.”
Birdsong was convicted and sentenced to 8 years for that crime. His rap sheet as a career criminal is extensive.
“My momma never raised me like that. She raised me. She was a loving person, and she raised me to be an honest man. Somewhere along the way, I strayed,” Birdsong admitted.
Meanwhile, Clemmie started a support group for moms who had lost children to violence. In May 2018, however, the grief had taken its toll. She was diagnosed with Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy and needed a heart transplant.
“They told me, actually, ‘Clemmie, your heart is broken’” she said.
Her new heart led to a change of heart.
Her hatred for Birdsong was slipping away.
Yet, how could you forgive someone who killed your only child?
Her family and friends did not understand.
“I used to make a joke every time somebody come at me with something and I don’t want to talk foul about it,” Greenlee said. “I’ll say, let me call 1-800-JESUS and just see what he’d tell me. And I think I played myself into that stupid belief.”
Then years later, in 2019, that fake phone call led to a real call after Clemmie found Birdsong in prison. Surrounded by friends, Clemmie spoke to her son’s killer.
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“Probably after 2-3 minutes, I was able to say, ‘Yes, I am here. What is your name?’” Clemmie said as she wiped away tears.
After that conversation, Clemmie went from hating this man to putting money in Birdsong’s prison account. Then, as they wrapped up the call, she had one last inconceivable request.
“I don’t have my child to call me and tell me ‘Happy Mother’s Day’ again. And you took that from me,” Clemmie shared. “And I said, ‘You need to be my son at Mother’s Day and call me and tell me Happy Mother’s Day.’”
We asked Birdsong what that call was like.
“It was good,” he admitted. “I mean, and I’m proud that I was able to do that and give her, you know, some of that.”
Recently, Birdsong was released from prison, and the first person he called was Clemmie. Her heart told her to forgive him, but something was holding her back.
Could she actually do it?
She invited our cameras there as she welcomed her son’s killer into her home.
“He’s in my yard. Not only is he in my yard, but he is on my front porch. I just can’t believe it,” Clemmie said.
Clemmie came face-to-face with the man who killed her son. Years of pain came rushing back. Followed by the undeniable comfort of peace. Tears and hugs followed.
Hurt, heal, let it go.
Words that Clemmie has always lived by, playing out in real time.
As forgiveness is the bridge that connects pain and peace, that bridge is for Birdsong as well.
“I needed you to stand in front of me, looking at him. So, you can say to yourself that I forgive myself,” Clemmie told Birdsong to his face.
In the aftermath of forgiveness comes closure, and that place where Rodriguez Greenlee died – at the corner of Lischey Avenue and Berry Street – is where Clemmie joined her tribe to find her closure.
Hand in hand with Birdsong.
“It’s all I needed,” she said. “I’m good.”
Clemmie said forgiving Birdsong is the hardest thing she has ever had to do, even harder than burying her child.
That forgiveness has brought new beginnings.
Clemmie and “Bird” have spoken every single day since they met in person in 2019. There are also plans for a book. They want to show people that unconditional forgiveness is doable and essential.
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