2. Introduction:
• Immigration to the United States is a complex
demographic phenomenon that has been a major source
of population growth and cultural change through out
much of the history of the United States.
• In recent years the popular culture has
paid special attention to Mexican
immigration
3. • In 2006 the United States accepted more legal
immigrants as permanent residents than all
other countries in the world combined.
• Over one million people were naturalized as
U.S. citizens in 2008.
• Nearly 14 million immigrants entered the United
States from 2000 to 2010.
4. • The economic realities of people who
cross the border are woven into nearly
every line. The green card that immigrants
have to carry, controls who is a legal or
not legal person in the country.
5. • Song: Without a face
• Band: Rage against the machine
• Singer: Zack de la Rocha
6. Lyrics
Uh Yeah, i tried ta look back ta my past long lost
Got no card so i got not soul A blood donor ta tha land owner holocaust
Life is prison, no parole, no control Pops heart stopped, in came tha air drop
Tha jura got my number on a wire tap Flooded tha trench he couldn't shake tha toxic shock
'cause i jack for similac, fuck a cadillac Maize was all we needed ta sustain
Now her golden skin burns, insecticide rain
Survive one motive no hope Ya down wit ddt yeah you know me
'cause every sidewalk i walk is like a tightrope Raped for tha grapes, profit for tha bourgeois (?)
Yes i know my deadline sire, when my life expires War tape boomin' path is luminoso
I'm sendin' paper south under tha barbed wire I'm headed north like my name was kid 'cisco
To survive one motive no hope, ah
Tha mother of my child will lose her mind at my grave It's hard ta breathe wit wilson's head around my throat
It's my life for their life so call it a free trade Strangled and mangled another ss curtain call
por vida and our name up on tha stall When i tried ta cross tha white wall
I took a death trip when i tried ta cross tha white wall When i tried ta cross tha white walls
Walk unseen past tha graves an tha gates, born without Walk unseen past tha graves an tha gates, born without
a face a face
One motive no hope ah, born without a face
One motive no hope ah, born without a face Walk unseen past tha graves an tha gates, born without
Walk unseen past tha graves an tha gates, born without a face
a face One motive no hope ah, born without a face
One motive no hope ah, yeah, born without a face
Without a face You say fortify, reaction, you divide
And you say fortify, reaction, reaction
And you say fortify, reaction, reaction
You say fortify, reaction, you divide
7. • The song is about the story of a Mexican
immigrant trying to send money back to his
family, and the circumstances that meant he
was not able to provide for them in his own
country.
• Zack introduces the song telling us it is about
the Mexico-US border, where people take a
'death trip' trying to get into the US, a death trip
because '1500 bodies have been found' on the
border, people who 'tried to cross the white
wall'.
8. Analisis of the Stanzas:
• “ Got no card so I got not soul
Life is prison, no parole, no control
Tha jura got my number on a wire tap
Cause I jack for Similac*, fuck a Cadillac
Survive one motive no hope”
It refers to even not being able to think about owning a car and
having to steal for something as basic as baby formula.
* Similac is a formula feeding for babies
9. • “tried ta look back ta my past long lost
A blood donor ta tha land owner holocaust
Pops heart stopped, in came tha air drop,
Flooded tha trench he couldn't shake the toxic shock”
In this stanza he is talking about how the immigrants used to have a
history in farming in Mexico before the 'land owner holocaust' where
the US dropped DDT*.
*DDT was an pesticide used to kill mosquitoes .
10. • “Maize was all we needed to sustain,
now her Golden skin burns, insecticide rain
Ya down with DDT, yeah you know me,
rapped from tha Grapes,
profit for tha bourgeois
War tape boomin' path is Luminoso*,
I'm headed North like my name was kid Cisco*”
• 'maize was all we needed to sustain' (their land and food is desecrated by chemicals,
e.g. 'DDT' so they are forced to do these things to survive)
• Luminoso is a reference to Sendero Luminoso, a organization founded in Peru in the
80's. Its goal was a cultural revolution.
• Kid Cisco was a fictional character that was Mexican, but originally he was a cruel
outlaw.
11. “To survive one motive no hope,
it's hard ta breathe
with Wilson's hand
around my throat”
‘Wilson's hand around my throat' refers to the Republican governor who
campaigned entirely on an anti-immigration platform.
12. “Strangled and mangled
another SS curtain call,
when I tried ta cross
tha white wall”
He is comparing the wall on the border between the US and Mexico to the
Berlin wall.
13. Conclusion:
• The immigrants are trading their lives to
keep their family alive and illegal
immigrants, as well as lower class people,
remain in poverty in order to maintain
class systems that keep capitalist
societies afloat.
