`On A Highway In Bel Air' (For Ralph Featherstone and `Che' Payne) folk song lyrics

A protest folk song from 2019 about the explosion on Highway 1 in Bel Air, Maryland that killed two SNCC workers, Ralph Featherstone and William "Che" Payne, on March 8, 1970..

(verse 1)
On a highway in Bel Air in March
Of 1970
A car it exploded
Driving toward Washington, D.C.
Ralph Featherstone and "Che" Payne
Two SNCC workers lay dead
So cops claimed they "carried bombs"
On Route 1 in Maryland.

(chorus)
On a highway in Bel Air
Ralph Featherstone's body torn apart
On a highway in Bel Air
"Che" Payne killed in the dark.

(verse 2)
In a courthouse in Bel Air
A trial they did prepare
Of a former SNCC chairman
The government wanted jailed or dead
They assumed H. Rap Brown
Was in the car they targeted
For their COINTELPRO goal
Was the Movement to behead. (chorus)

(verse 3)
In the car driving from Bel Air
H. Rap Brown was not present
But the blast killed Ralph Featherstone
A key witness in Rap Brown's defense
Arranging security
Was Ralph Featherstone's mission
But he was killed on his way back
To his bookstore in Washington. (chrous)

(verse 4)
On a highway in Bel Air
SNCC said: "It was murder!"
From a bomb planted under the seat
In a SNCC car well-known by police
Though they failed to kill Rap Brown then
For life he was later jailed
And no more than 30 were "Che" and "Feather"
When at midnight they were killed. (chorus)