“A noose was put in my family’s garage.” Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello remembers the racism he endured as a kid

(Image credit: Barry Brecheisen/WireImage)

Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello has revealed the racist treatment he endured when he was growing up.

The 60-year-old, who was born in Harlem but spent much of his childhood in the Libertyville suburb of Chicago, says in the new issue of Metal Hammer that he went through both “microaggressions” and “macro-aggression” for being mixed race. These included a noose being put up in his family’s garage when he was 13 years old.

When asked by journalist Paul Brannigan about his earliest experiences with racism, Morello answers: “It was in the playground, really early. I always knew that I was different. There was passive-aggressive racism from other kids, born out of innocent ignorance.

“But there was really mean stuff too: hearing the ‘n’ word was not uncommon, and when I was 13 years old, a noose was put in my family’s garage. Libertyville was this kind of bucolic, charming Chicago suburb on the one hand, but there was a sort of underpinning of real fear.”

Brannigan then asks Morello if he ever felt truly threatened by the racist treatment he received.

“Sure,” the guitarist replies. “I mean, looking back on it, it’s just your life in a way, but there was this background static. Every day there was the possibility of what are now known as micro-aggressions, and sometimes macro-aggression.”

Morello continues by explaining how prejudice even impacted his early love life. “And then you get to dating age, and it becomes very sharp. I’d be standing on a doorstep waiting to go out on a date, and I’d hear these arguments going on behind the door, and all of a sudden, you know, my date would have ‘come down with a cold’ or something.”

After studying at Harvard University in Massachusetts, Morello moved to Los Angeles in 1986. He formed Rage Against The Machine there five years later.

Rage Against The Machine broke up for the third time earlier this year. Drummer Brad Wilk posted on Instagram that the rap metal stars “will not be touring or playing live again” for the foreseeable future.

Morello is expected to release an as-yet-untitled solo album soon. A single from it – Soldier In The Army Of Love, featuring his son Roman on guitar – came out last month.

Morello described his upcoming album as “my first-ever full-length solo rock album” on social media.

As well the interview with Morello, the new Metal Hammer contains a celebration of four decades of thrash metal, featuring Metallica, Exodus, Anthrax and more. Order your copy now and get it delivered directly to your door.

Metal Hammer issue 390 — (Image credit: Future (artwork by Puis Calzada))

Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Metal Hammer and Prog, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, NME and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.