In a rare public statement, Rage Against the Machine have slammed the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict.
Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges on Friday, November 19, after he fired an AR-15-style assault rifle that killed two protesters and seriously injured another at a 2020 rally in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The protest was in connection with the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
Rittenhouse had traveled from his home state of Illinois to Kenosha, where he shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber. He also injured Gaige Grosskreutz. His attorneys argued that he acted in self-defense.
“What defines innocence in America? Tamir Rice was executed by police for playing with a toy. Nobody was charged. Ahmaud Arbery went jogging and was murdered in broad daylight,” read a statement from the band.
“Kyle Rittenhouse armed himself and killed people who were fighting for racial justice. He claimed self-defense,” they added. “This is the settler logic of America’s founding myth: whiteness must cast itself as the victim in order to justify its violence against those resisting its oppression. Welcome to the Land of the Free, Home of the Brave.”
RATM guitarist Tom Morello also commented individually, tweeting, “When the courts do what they were designed to do and protect and enforce white supremacy: don’t mourn, organize.”
Several other other musicians and celebrities have also spoke out after the verdict.
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