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Rage Against the Machine - Voice Of The Voiceless

Rage Against the Machine - Voice Of The Voiceless Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: The Battle Of Los Angeles
Released: 1999

Voice Of The Voiceless Lyrics

Voice Of The Voiceless Song Chart

This is about Mumia Abu-Jamal, a journalist and former black panther convicted of killing the Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in a 1981 altercation. Abu-Jamal, who was shot in the chest, was sentenced to death but the death sentence was overturned in 2001.

Abu-Jamal was a radio host in Philadelphia, where he was referred to as "The Voice Of The Voiceless" for his exposure of issues in poor and underrepresented communities.

The song prompted police protests as cops objected to Rage supporting a man convicted of killing one of their own. During a show in Philadelphia, Rage introduced a song with "Good evening, We want to just quickly send a nice friendly message to uh, the fraternal order of police in Philadelphia. Here's something nice and friendly, and it goes something like this..." They proceeded to play "F--- the Police" by NWA. (thanks, Rory - Philadelphia, PA, for above 2)

Rage guitarist Tom Morello visited Abu-Jamal in jail, and used the band's website to rally support for him.

"And Orwell's hell, a terror era coming true. But this little brother's watching you too." This is a reference to the classic George Orwell novel 1984, where the state is basically this unseen authoritarian force that controls everything and everybody. The term Orwell uses for the government is "Big Brother" (which is still used as a metaphor for government over 50 years after he wrote the book in 1948). So "little brother" in that lyric would be the average citizen, who's aware of the government's abuse/authority and knows it's wrong. (thanks, Tim - Pittsburgh, PA)