Key Takeaways:
- As concerts and music festivals resume, Rage Against the Machine is using the platform to call attention to atrocities committed against Indigenous people in Canada.
- Indigenous women are frequently the victims of violence in Canada, and advocates have long pressed the federal government to do more to halt their deaths.
Rage Against the Machine is utilizing the stage to draw attention to injustices towards Indigenous people in Canada as concerts and music festivals are in full gear once more.
The American rap-rock band showed statistics on the violence experienced by members of the Indigenous population across the nation while performing at this year’s Bluesfest in Ottawa on Friday.
On a screen behind the band during the performance, CTV News’ research that “An Indigenous people in Canada is over 10 times more probable to be shot and killed by a police officer than a white person is” was displayed.
At the yearly music event in Ottawa, the band also brought attention to data about missing as well as murdered Indigenous women.
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At another point in the performance, audience members read, “In Canada, Indigenous women, as well as girls, are 16 times more likely to be murdered or to escape than white women are.”
In Canada, violence against Indigenous women has long been a problem, and advocates have long urged the federal govt to take stronger action to stop their deaths. The hundreds of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada, according to a report issued in 2019 following a national inquiry, constitutes “genocide.”
As the band played, additional words such as “Land Back” and “Settler-colonialism is murder” were also displayed behind them.
The politically vocal group recently criticized the Supreme Court’s ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade and eliminate the constitutional right to an abortion during performances in the United States.
During a concert in Wisconsin on July 9, the screen briefly said, “Forced delivery in a country where Black birth-givers endure maternal mortality two to three times higher than that of White birth-givers.” The band mentioned a figure from the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
One of the group’s first live performances in more than ten years occurred during their appearance in Ottawa. The four-piece trio continued their “Public Service Announcement” tour on Saturday night in Quebec City and will continue with performances in Hamilton, Ontario, and Toronto this week.
Source: CTV News
