Only A Pawn In Their Game/ The Times They Are A-Changin' / 1964
A bullet from the back of a bush took Medgar Ever's blood. A finger fired the trigger to his name. A handle hid out in the dark A hand set the spark Two eyes took the aim Behind a man's brain But he can't be blamed He's only a pawn in their game. A South politician preaches to the poor white man, "You got more than the blacks, don't complain. You're better than them, you been born with white skin," they explain. And the Negro's name Is used it is plain For the politician's gain As he rises to fame And the poor white remains On the caboose of the train But it ain't him to blame He's only a pawn in their game. The deputy sheriffs, the soldiers, the governors get paid, And the marshals and cops get the same, But the poor white man's used in the hands of them all like a tool. He's taught in his school From the start by the rule That the laws are with him To protect his white skin To keep up his hate So he never thinks straight 'Bout the shape that he's in But it ain't him to blame He's only a pawn in their game. From the poverty shacks, he looks from the cracks to the tracks, And the hoof beats pound in his brain. And he's taught how to walk in a pack Shoot in the back With his fist in a clinch To hang and to lynch To hide 'neath the hood To kill with no pain Like a dog on a chain He ain't a-got no name But it ain't him to blame He's only a pawn in their game. Today, Medgar Evers was buried from the bullet he caught. They lowered him down as a king. But when the shadowy sun sets on the one That fired the gun He'll see by his grave On the stone that remains Carved next to his name His epitaph plain: Only a pawn in their game.
recent news concerning Medgar Evers'case has surfaced in the Boston Sunday Globe dated February 19th. so you can see its been a while! ---------------------------------------------------- EVERS'DEATH MARKED A RACIAL CROSSROADS Evers' death was a major factor in President Kennedy's request for a comprehensive civil rights law. (picture omitted) On June 13, 1963, Medgar Evers, a young lead- er in the burgeoning civil rights movement, was shot in back outside his home in Jackson, Miss. Evers'assassination was among the first of the dec- ade's many political killings and marked a turning point in the fight for racial equality. Evers'death sparked widespread demonstra- tions and violence, and was a major factor in Pres- ident Kenndy's request on June 19, 1963, for Con- gress to enact a comprehensive civil rights law. Racial violence had gued Evers, and it in- spired him to work for equal rights for blacks. Evers married Myrlie Beasley in 1951. He joined the NAACP after graduating from Alcorn A & M College in 1952. By 1954, he was appointed field secretary of the NAACP's Mississippi chapter. Evers incurred the wrath of white Mississippi- ans in seeking enforcement of the 1954 Supreme Court decision outlawing school segregation. Equally inflammatory was Evers'encouragement of black voter registration. His involvement with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference brought more threats of violence from whites. Byron De La Beckwith was arrested and tried twice in 1964 for Evers'murder. Both trials ended in hung juries. Nearly 30 years later, new witnesses came forth. On Feb. 5, 1994, Beckwith was convict- ed of killing Evers. JASON SCOTT ------------------------------------------------------- and next week in the Sunday Globe again: ------------------------------------------------------- CONVICTED KILLER OF EVERS TO SPEAK Jackson, Miss.- Byron De La Beckwith, the white supremacist convicted of murdering civil rights leader Medgar Evers, will air his un- censored views in a four-part TV se- ries. "He feels this is one way to get his story out. That's all he ever want- ed - to get his story out,"said program host Richard Barrett, coun- sel for the white supremacist Na- tionalist Movement, based in Learned. "Preservation"debuts March 1 on public access TV in San- ta Barbara, Calif., then will air on public access stations in 50 other markets, Barrett said. Evers, field secretary for the National Associ- ation for the Advancement of Col- ored People, was gunned down in the driveway of his Jackson house in 1963. Twice in 1964, all-white juries deadlocked on murder charges. Beckwith, 74, was convicted in 1994 by a racially mixed jury and sen- tenced to life in prison. He is appeal- ing the verdict. Mississippi NAACP President Bea Branch was sorry to see Beckwith get a forum. (AP) ----------------------------------------- WAIT - THERE'S EVEN MORE!!!!! ----------------------------------------- from the Feb 19th Globe, there was a much larger article on the replacement of the NAACP Chairman William Gibson by none other than Myrlie Evers-Williams, Evers'widow. Gibson had come under attack for mismanaging money in his role as Chairman. NAACP members indicated dissatisfaction and... "Board members were briefed Friday on an audit of officer's ex- penses - particularily Gibson's - by the accounting firm ***COOPER's & LYBRAND*****!!!!! my emphasis here :-) Several board members who attended the meeting said they did not receive a complete audit report. They would not reveal what they were told during the briefing." ....end excerpt> -------------------------------------------------- the accounting firm just lept off the page for me when i saw it....coincidence is a powerful thing. anyway, i hope Myrlie does a great job... - nate, looking at that shadowy sun setting on the one
Newsgroups: rec.music.dylan Subject: Medger Evers and Emitt Till connection (who's who) From: gehan gehang@yahoo.com Date: 15 Jul 2001 00:08:50 -0700 I was reading the who's who list and was surprised that no one has listed the connection between the two.. Medgar Evers led the unsucessfull prosecution of Emmett Till's killers..
