Last Friday, the 15th, Rage Against the Machine released a mini-documentary called Killing in Thy Name .
Made in partnership with the international organization The Ummah Chroma (which means Community of Color), the fifteen-minute film is available for free and addresses issues of race and racism in the United States. The documentary shows a teacher recounting the history of oppression in the country to a group of children, beginning with centuries of slavery.
When announcing the film, the band released a text explaining the project, and bassist Tim Commerford wrote: “Writing songs that have something to say about what’s happening socially and politically isn’t a choice for us. It’s an obligation. I want to use music as a weapon and start scaring away the fools.”
Guitarist Tom Morello adds: “My mother [Mary Morello] is a white woman with a radical voice. For three decades, she was a progressive teacher at a conservative high school, inspiring students to challenge the system — in her actions and words, she always taught that racism should never be ignored and must always be confronted.”
And drummer Brad Wilk concluded by writing: “Music wouldn’t exist without politics. When we’re doing a show, if something makes sense to a young person in the audience—starting that change, that process of thinking for themselves—that’s the most powerful moment Rage Against the Machine can have as a band.”
Watch the mini-documentary Killing in Thy Name below.
