NCHS AP English Language

Beckwith Essay - By Daryan Green (Blogger Mark Francis)

The assassination of Medgar Evers, a major NAACP activist in the 1960’s, by the Klansman Byron de la Beckwith in 1963 exemplifies the predicament of the American culture in accusing parties for vile crimes as such. In modern society, the responsible party must receive adequate punishment, but in cases of a wronged minority by a member of an extremist majority, culpability sways from an ignorant, but conscious individual to a “pawn” brainwashed by a driven manipulative system of superiors. In Beckwith’s case specifically, his assassination of Medgar Evers constitutes as an act of a pawn. Beckwith for a racist Southern political system that exploits his identity. As a lower class, white Southerner, the powers that be trap Beckwith into believing that by joining their oppressive system he has more to gain socially than by siding with blacks to seek a more morally equitable lifestyle. Musician Bob Dylan offers his clear stance on the culpability of pawns when he uses the Beckwith case as inspiration for his song “Only a Pawn in Their Game.” The song narrates the ways by which Southern politicians successfully condition citizens to side against the black community in hopes to uplift to white community to its deserved position over all. Dylan claims that Beckwith’s role in the of Medgar Evers is that of a weapon. His argument, though preliminarily arcane, teaches society a lesson by the finish; in a search for justice, the masses must search beyond the role of the pawn to the plan of the players who control the pawn’s motives. Dylan’s opinion sheds light further on the role of Beckwith in his assassination attempt and the general composition of a pawn. As stated in Avery Kolers’s argument entitled “Who Killed Medgar Evers?” in Bob Dylan and Philosophy, pawns willingly defend the beliefs of a majority to extreme extents based on “indoctrination and illusory benefits.” Pawns ultimately believe that they act in favor of their own interests, despite the similar interests fed to them by their players. Based on the ideas of pawns in society, Beckwith fits the role quite comfortably, but society is in need of a wake-up call to the devious workings of the systems behind the pawns of malevolence.

posted by Mark Francis @ 5:09 PM