Rage Against The Machine frontman Zack de la Rocha has teamed up with streetwear brand Born X Raised to protest Donald Trump’s LA immigration crackdown with anti-ICE merch.
Protests against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) department’s operations began earlier this month and saw numerous people stage demonstrations to campaign against ICE’s raids of several workplaces in Los Angeles for alleged immigration violations.
Born X Raised have since released a “Protect Los Angeles” hoodie and T-shirt, as modelled by Rocha, which will see 100 per cent of the profits go to CHIRLA (Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights), an organisation that offers legal services to immigrants in the workforce, as well as immigrant students and those facing deportation (per Stereogum).
A statement from the ‘Killing In The Name’ artist was shared on the brand’s Instagram page, in which Rocha touched on solidarity within the LA community amid the raids. “We fight alongside our undocumented brothers and sisters,” the post began. “It’s like the old school used to say, “con safos” — it’s just the nature of things here, whether you like it or not.
“Because here we form a community that transcends borders. Here we reject the idea that anyone is illegal. We are a dignified city of millions of international workers from every corner of the globe, and together we are developing the capacity to defend our mothers, our fathers, our families, and our children from ICE and their racist and armed vigilantes now invading our communities. It’s para los niños that we organize to fight for those who can’t.”
He continued to say those that stood on the side-lines were also unsafe. “Fascism is lawless,” he added. “Its agents weaponize what they consider to be the law and will only apply it to those that they target, while they illegally detain, harass, terrorize, and disappear the members of our communities with total impunity.
“As we speak, they are attempting to blur the lines between what is protest and what is “terrorism,” between who is an innocent worker and who is a “violent criminal.” This could soon be the norm, whether you’re a citizen or not. To stand with us is to stand up for yourselves.”
He rounded off the post by writing: “Born and raised in Mexico. Black and brown, no backing us down. Solo el pueblo salva al pueblo. In peace for as long as possible.” You can shop the tee and hoodie here.
Rocha is among several musicians speaking out against ICE, including bandmate Tom Morello, who recently attended a protest against ICE and called on people to “defend LA”.
Last weekend, Finneas claimed he had been tear-gassed by the National Guard at a “peaceful” protest in LA. “Fuck ICE,” he wrote on social media about the incident. Later, he added: “If you are into this fascist shit you are small and weak and will lose.”
Elsewhere, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong expressed his support by telling ICE to “fuck off”, and Shakira has said that she lives in “constant fear” as an immigrant in the United States.
Khaby Lame, the world’s biggest TikTok star, also reportedly fled the US after being detained by ICE earlier this week.
Rage Against The Machine have long made headlines for the political nature of their music, and last year Morello caught up with NME ahead of his set at Download Festival to recall which tracks he considers to be the best protest songs of all time.
“Off the top of my head, some of my favourites would be ‘Imagine’ by John Lennon — I stopped by Abbey Road yesterday so that’s on my mind — ‘Biko’ by Peter Gabriel, ‘Fight The Power’ by Public Enemy. There are also probably a few Rage Against The Machine Songs that make the list too,” he said.
“The first thing that makes a great protest song is that it’s a great song. Nobody wants to hear a college lecture with a beat to it, there has to be an artistry there and an authenticity and a power and a chemistry behind it. All of those songs have that.”
He also spoke about how the band have always had an intrinsic link to politics in November and called out the fans he thinks “weren’t intelligent enough” to understand the group’s intentions.
“Never ceases to amaze me how many folks who’ve heard RATM [and have] literally ZERO understanding of anything that band was about and even less understanding where any of us might stand on contemporary issues,” he wrote on X/Twitter.
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