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A Pawn in Their Game
Author: Raine
Date: 08/26/2010 13:26:23
Yesterday A NYC Cab Driver was stabbed. A mosque in california was vandalized as was one in Tennessee. There was a pipe bomb set off at one in Jacksonville as well. This weekend Glenn Beck is going to "reclaim" Martin Luther King Jr. Dream with a rally of some type at the steps of the Lincoln memorial.
The Gulf of Mexico is reeling from the BP Oil Spill as we are fast approaching the 5 anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The 9th anniversary of the September 11 attacks is leass than 2.5 weeks away.
I really find the collective consciousness of this nation gets crazy this time of year. Last year it was all teabaggers at town-halls, screaming and yelling at elected officials in their districts and states. Some officials had their lives threatened. The 'President is Muslim' meme is back (if it ever really went away). Is there something in the American psyche that makes us pick a wound to have it bleed once more? Have we become so traumatized that we cannot or will not heal? This is not what was meant to happen when this man spoke these words on August 28, 1963: That was The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. in his I Have a Dream Speech.
Take heed, This anger and bitterness is no accident, as shown in a recent New Yorker article. This has been happening for decades as Think Progress has documented While people may feel rightly angry and frustrated, they are also being manipulated by those who would seek for them to lose the very rights so many true patriots in this nation have fought for. That these wounds are re-opened every August is no accident.
People are hurting, tired and longing for better days. Dr. King had a message for those people as well: This is not the same dream that the likes of the Koch Brothers, Dick Armey, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck want Americans to reclaim. I guarantee you that the dream that Glenn Beck claims to be reclaiming this weekend is far more nefarious. Beck's dream capitalizes from a war weary and tired nation still trying to recover from September 11, Katrina, the the BP Oil spill and the worst recession since the Depression. It's cruel and manipulative and feeds off of people's fear and prejudices. The Koch Brothers must certainly approve.
In yet another summer of our discontent, let us heed the words of Bob Dylan who performed this on the same day that Dr. King gave his I have a Dream speech.
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 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 powerty 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.
and 
Raine
The Gulf of Mexico is reeling from the BP Oil Spill as we are fast approaching the 5 anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The 9th anniversary of the September 11 attacks is leass than 2.5 weeks away.
I really find the collective consciousness of this nation gets crazy this time of year. Last year it was all teabaggers at town-halls, screaming and yelling at elected officials in their districts and states. Some officials had their lives threatened. The 'President is Muslim' meme is back (if it ever really went away). Is there something in the American psyche that makes us pick a wound to have it bleed once more? Have we become so traumatized that we cannot or will not heal? This is not what was meant to happen when this man spoke these words on August 28, 1963:
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
Take heed, This anger and bitterness is no accident, as shown in a recent New Yorker article. This has been happening for decades as Think Progress has documented
For the past two years, ThinkProgress researcher Lee Fang has been digging into the nefarious activities of the Koch family, reporting on their funding of the tea parties, the depth of their astroturfing, and their family’s record of right-wing radicalism.
Using a great deal of TP’s research, The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer published a lengthy article this week that gives the “Kochtopus” ideological network the mainstream media attention it deserves. In order to “alter the direction of America,” the oil family has been “giving money to organizations fighting legislation related to climate change, underwriting a huge network of foundations, think tanks, and political front groups.”Charles Koch, about 10 years ago, compared himself to the theologian Martin Luther and he said he’s bringing a right wing radical free-market reformation to this country. So, you know, like you said, Fred Koch, the father, did this to President Kennedy, funding the John Birch Society. They did it to Clinton, funding a lot of the attack groups and the rallies on Capitol Hill, smearing Hillary Clinton. They’re doing it to Barack Obama. But they’re going to keep doing it.
People are hurting, tired and longing for better days. Dr. King had a message for those people as well:
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
In yet another summer of our discontent, let us heed the words of Bob Dylan who performed this on the same day that Dr. King gave his I have a Dream speech.
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 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 powerty 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.
and Raine
