Protest Song Of The Week: 'Mourning In America' By Brother Ali

Today, I’m relaunching the Protest Music Project which I first curated at Shadowproof for eight-plus years. Every Monday a “Protest Song Of The Week” will be sent out to subscribers.

Credit: Rhymesayers

For the return of the “Protest Song of the Week,” I considered sending out a song from the past year. There are dozens of songs that I have missed while the project was on hiatus. But I’ll promote the newsletter and attract some subscribers before getting to those tunes.

In the meantime, let’s revisit hip-hop artist Brother Ali’s “Mourning in America” from his 2012 album “Mourning In America and Dreaming in Color.”

Ali was supposed to go on a college tour with the rap rock band Gym Class Heroes in 2007 when Verizon cut him after seeing the video for “Uncle Sam Goddamn” — one of his most popular songs to date. He lost tens of thousands of dollars. 
 
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also took an interest in Ali and froze his bank account while he was on tour in Australia. He said that he did not want to be seen as a political rapper, however, five years later, Ali released a heartfelt album of protest music.

The Occupy movement had peaked. President Barack Obama faced well-deserved scrutiny for drone warfare. Ali’s title track fit the political moment by dealing with class warfare and wars waged abroad.

“Murder, murder, murder/kill, kill, kill/Cannibals walk the earth and get ill blood spill.” Terrorism is the “war of the poor,” and “warfare the terrorism of the rich,” Ali raps in the opening verses. 

Ali highlights the anguish of parents who are made to carry the bodies of babies that they cherish. In 2024, when videos of massacres by the United States-backed Israeli military circulate every day, it’s impossible not to think of these lyrics in this context. 

Righteous outrage underpins “Mourning In America,” distinguishing it from the other tracks on the album. The later verses pivot to the decay of cities, as United States soldiers return home to find education failing young people and violence permeating the streets. If police don’t kill you, then you may become ensnared by the prison state.

“When you grow up in a climate of overriding violence, you will never get beyond it. It’s always inside you, and death just surrounds you,” Ali declares. 
 
The daily dehumanization is made plain by Ali, and as he acknowledges, this nation is stained with the blood of slaves. He wants to believe in the dream of America, but so long as this is standard for the underclass, Ali must call it how he sees it. 

It’s mourning in America.