From his early days as lead guitarist of Rage Against The Machine to the Street Sweeper Social Club, Tom Morello incorporated social issues of the past and present to mobilize his fans toward political change.
Tom Morello takes an active role in the international boycott of immigration laws in Arizona, which makes racial profiling mandatory, as he says he has spent a large part of his life being a victim of racial profiling since he is of Latin American origin.“So I know what that law would mean to the daily lives of brown-skinned people of Arizona, words enacted.”When asked about efficiency of international organizations like the UN, Morello said the UN Security Council is in the hands of the United States and its closest allies. “It’s not really so much a United Nations, as it is a body of countries that is beholden to the interests of the few,” claims Morello. Commenting on the issue of the necessity of musicians to be politically conscious, Tom Morello believes musicians should do what seems honest to them. “I would never suggest that musicians who do not have a social conscious adopt one because I suggest it. On the other hand, I think that not just musicians, but people in any profession, whether they’re journalists, cameraman, or groundskeepers, that they don’t divorce their lives from their politics and their beliefs.”And he explains this idea with his own example, saying that it was not he who chose to be a guitar player, but rather his vocation chose him. “So it’s my job to weave my convictions into my vocation, and I try to do that through the music that I create, my interaction with the audience and the non-profit organizations I support with my music.”