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 mans brain
But he cant be blamed
Hes only a pawn in their game
A south politician preaches to the poor white man
You got more than the blacks dont complain
Youre better than them
You been born with white skin they explain
And the negros name
Is used it is plain
For the politicians gain
As he rises to fame
And the poor white remains
On the caboose of the train
But it aint him to blame
Hes 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 mans used
In the hands of them all like a tool
Hes 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 hes in
But it aint him to blame
Hes 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 hes 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 aint got no name
But it aint him to blame
Hes 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
Hell see by his grave
On the stone that remains
Carved next to his name
His epitaph plain:
Only a pawn in their game