Freedom

About this song

Freedom was the fourth and final single released from Rage Against the Machine's self-titled album. The music video was directed by Peter Christopherson and uses footage from the Peltier case, along with a re-enactment of the Pine Ridge incident from Michael Apted's 1992 documentary Incident at Oglala. Zack de la Rocha spoke to Rolling Stone in 1995 about Peltier's case, and the video also includes imagery of American Indian Movement members and quotes from Sitting Bull.

What it's about

The song raises awareness of Leonard Peltier, a Native American activist involved in the American Indian Movement, who was given two consecutive life sentences for the deaths of two FBI agents after a 1975 shoot-out on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. It points to questions about prosecutorial misconduct, including fabricated evidence and falsified testimony, raised since his trial.

Summary written with AI, based on the song's page on Genius.

Fun facts

• Sampled in 1 other song, like “Play Your Part (Pt. 1) by Girl Talk”.
• Covered 2 times, including “Freedom by Busdrivers”.
• Written by Tom Morello, Brad Wilk, Tim Commerford and Zack de la Rocha.
• Produced by Rage Against the Machine and Garth Richardson.
• Recorded at Sound City Studios.