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Rage Against The Machine have shared a short documentary on race called Killing In Thy Name – watch it below.
- Read more: The roots of… Rage Against The Machine
Released in collaboration with international artists collective The Ummah Chroma, the film follows a teacher as he educates a group of small children on the history of oppression in the United States.
“The following is a document of true events,” an intro to Killing In Thy Name reads. “Our aim is for this piece to be a fire escape from the fiction known as whiteness and a spring for discovery. Remember, the children are always watching.”
Rage Against the Machine’s protest song ‘Killing In The Name’ is used throughout the film, which is capped off with quotes from the band.
“My mom [Mary Morello] is a white woman with a radical voice,” said Tom Morello. “For three decades she was a progressive teacher in a conservative high school inspiring students to challenge the system – in her actions and words she has always taught that racism must never be ignored and must always be confronted.”
Bassist Tim Commerford added: “Writing songs that have something to say about what’s going on socially and politically isn’t a choice for us. It’s an obligation. I want to use music as a weapon and start spraying fools.”
“The music wouldn’t exist without the politics,” drummer Brad Wilk added. “When we’re playing a show, if something clicks for any one kid in the audience – starting that change, that process of thinking for themselves – that’s the most potent time Rage Against the Machine can have as a band.”
The cover art for the documentary depicts a famous photo of a man standing beside the skulls of roughly 1.5 million bison, which were slaughtered in part to end the fight for independence by Native Americans.
The band walked out on stage naked in Philadelphia in July 1993 (back when Lollapalooza was a touring festival) in a protest against censorship.
Meanwhile, Metallica‘s Lars Ulrich has revealed that he’s been keeping his drumming skills sharp during the coronavirus pandemic by playing along to Rage Against The Machine while practising at home.
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