Rage Against the Machine have unveiled a new doco delving into the context behind 1991’s ‘Killing In The Name.’
The 15-minute film, dubbed Killing in Thy Name, was produced in collaboration with art collective the Ummah Chroma. The film investigates the history of racial and social oppression and inequality in the United States.
Comprised of live footage of Rage Against The Machine performing the titular track, indispersed with quotes from historians like Howard Zinn and footage of a teacher offering a didactic lesson to students about “the fiction known as whiteness”, it’s a searing indictment of the myths and misconception that surround white history in America.
“Living in the States, you’re living in one of the most brutal societies in the history of the world,” Zack de la Rocha says in an interview featured in the film. “The country who inherited the genocide of the Native American people. A country which participated in slavery.”
He continued, “Any society or any government or any system that is set up solely to profit a wealthy class while the majority of the people toil and suffer and sell their labor power, so long as that system’s only true motive is profit interest and not the maintenance and the betterment of the population, to meeting human needs, then that society should not stand. It should be challenged and questioned and overthrown.”
“My mom [Mary Morello] is a white woman with a radical voice,” guitarist Tom Morello adds. “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.”
The documentary is available to stream now, you can check it out below.
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Check out the Rage Against The Machine and The Ummah Chroma collaborative doco Killing In Thy Name:
