Throughout the month of July, Black Lives Matter protests have been escalating in Portland, Oregon, in response to the senseless murder of unarmed black man George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.

Portland’s protests have been going strong for 61 consecutive days, following the arrival of federal officers, the protests escalated in intensity.

Protestors have expressed outrage and contempt towards the agents. Following numerous incidents where officers — who are acting as a paramilitary arm of the Department of Homeland Security — failed to identify themselves whilst grabbing protestors and leading them to unmarked vehicles.

Footage has surfaced of protestors chanting along to the Rage Against the Machine anthem ‘Killing In The Name’, shouting the iconic rallying cry “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me” while clashing with authorities at a barricade.

Rage guitarist Tom Morello has shared a number of tweets, supporting the protestors. “Well that’s what it’s for!,” he wrote in reference to the 1992 protest track.

Last month, we were gifted with a source of light amid all the chaos in the form of a 10-year-old virtuoso Nandi Bushell, covering Rage Against The Machine’s ‘Guerilla Radio’ in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

The UK wunderkind multi-instrumentalist performed the cover on drums, bass, and guitar.

“Solidarity in the Fight to End Racism! #fightracism #blacklivesmatter #enoughisenough,” a caption for the video read.

The performance caught the eye of Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello, who retweeted the video, adding: “Well, now we’re on the right track.”

Morello took his support to the budding musician one step further, by gifting her a Fender Soul Power Stratocaster. 

“Hey Nandi, I’d like you to have this guitar as a gift from me to you because you rock so great, and to see someone rocking so great who is so young, it really gives me hope for the future,” Morello said in a video shared to the young prodigy’s YouTube account. “I didn’t start playing guitar until I was 17 years old, so you are way, super-far ahead of me, and I look forward to hearing a lot more of your music in the future. You’ve got a lot of soul, and here’s a little Soul Power to go with it. Keep it up!”

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine