Only a Pawn in Their Game
This song specifically points out how racism starts and how it spreads. It connects these ideas of taught racism to the murder of Medgar Evans.
Important FiguresMedgar Evens is important in this song, but not nearly as important as the victimized poor white man. The true murderer was Byron De La Beckwith, but the song never states this. The man could be anyone. Dylan shows that through teaching, anyone can succumb to racism. Evans, as well as countless other African Americans, was the victim of a preventable plague that still ravages the world.
This song is interesting because it shows the white man as a victim instead of the black man who is murdered. Because of this, it created a divide. Some people agreed with Dylan's stance that racism is taught and preventable. Others thought that it was inappropriate to be overlooking the racist actions that people take. Regardless, this song opened the eyes of many. Never before had people heard a song about racial equality that targets the sources of racism quiet like this piece.
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The SongRacism is not something people are born with, they are taught to abide by its cruel ways. Dylan understood this when writing Only a Pawn in Their Game. This song deals with a nameless man who murders Medgar Evans. He starts his song with a framing device, starting with the moment the man murders Evans then moving to all the events which lead to racism. The first step is a man hearing that they are better than another simply based on the color of their skin. This seems obvious but it is essential that a person begin with believing this. This sort of message can be carried by any person who is respected by that person, in this case a politician. The politician then rises with support of followers, and pays off people who could help the minorities as the man is taught to hate other races more and more and that his hatred is actually protected. He is taught to hate other races so much that the only option is violence. This option is even acceptable because there are no repercussions from the violence. Eventually that violence leads to the murders of anyone with different colored skin, especially those who could possibly believe that they are equal to the white man. Dylan wants people to know that these racist people are absolutely bad, but they are taught to be bad and are protected. Without being taught or given protection, these racists would not have the power of fear over people nor have the power to commit awful crime and go unpunished.
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A bullet from the back of a bush
Took Medgar Evers' 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 hoofbeats 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 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
Took Medgar Evers' 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 hoofbeats 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 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