無處歸途 —— 傑飛的部落格

Only A Pawn In Their Game
[1963/08/28]
Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC, USA

連結：http://0rz.pixnet.tw/392Eh






「We are tired of seeing our people locked up in jail over and over again,
and then you holler 'be patient.' How long can we be patient?
We want our freedom, and we want it now!」

1963年6月12日，美國有色人種促進會（NAACP）領袖之一的 Medgar Evers，在自家門口遭到白人優越主義份子、3K黨成員 Byron De La Beckwith 以一把打獵用的來福槍射殺，子彈從後背貫穿前胸， Medgar 在地上掙扎了三十呎才昏迷，五十分鐘後被宣告死亡。

這起事件，使得美國當時已然緊繃的種族議題，更增添一筆互相仇恨的理由；許多歌手紛紛寫歌表達他們的看法，Gil Turner 寫了 Carry It On、Phil Ochs於Too Many Martyrs 裡寫道：「His name was Medgar Evers, and he walked his road alone, Like Emmett Till and thousands more whose names we'll never know」、迪倫則是寫了 Only A Pawn In Their Game。

這首歌裡，迪倫一反常態地沒有用上 finger-pointing 的態度、沒有指責哪些人應該為 Medgar Evers 的死負責、甚至認為 Byron De La Beckwith「只是個權力遊戲中的棋子」（對，歌名的 Pawn就是指 Byron），不值得譴責，因為南方貧窮白人某種程度上也是受害者，他們的生活條件跟黑人同樣地艱困，但群眾願意為黑人發聲，這些貧窮白人卻被告知「You're better than them, you been born with white skin」，這種精神勝利法，不能掩飾他們也是被壓迫者的事實。

兩個月後，迪倫受邀至「華盛頓大進軍」遊行現場演唱，先與 Joan Baez 合唱With God On Our Side，之後便是Only A Pawn In Their Game；這份錄音，是BBC 在 1963 年秋天，為了 March On Washington 做的專題報導的 mono 側錄音軌，有價值的部分其實不全然是迪倫的歌聲，而是穿插其中的幾位民權運動領袖的發言。例如本文一開始的 We want our freedom, and we want it now! 就是 John Lewis（學生非暴力協調委員會主席，時年23歲）的聲音。

附帶一提，Byron De La Beckwith 於 1964 年接受兩次審判，但因為陪審團全是白人，而刑事訴訟必須要得到全體陪審員的一致有罪判斷，才能將被告定罪，所以 Byron被無罪開釋；直到 1994 年，經由密西西比州助理檢察官 Bobby DeLaughter的努力，重新以殺人罪起訴 Byron，讓當時已經七十四歲的 Byron
必須在監獄裡度過餘生，直到 2001 年因心臟問題死於獄中；這段故事，後來也被翻拍成 Ghosts of Mississippi（密西西比謀殺案）這部電影。


http://www.crmvet.org/info/mowjl.htm (John Lewis 發言全文)
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/08/27/march.lewis/index.html (CNN 訪問 John Lewis)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medgar_Evers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byron_De_La_Beckwith

（Only A Pawn In Their Game 的歌詞在繼續閱讀裡）

Only A Pawn In Their Game

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 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 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.