"The first part of the song is a reference to American Indian activist Anna Mae Aquash, who, according to In the Spirit of Crazy Horse by Peter Matthiessen, was murdered by the F.B.I. under their COINTELPRO counterintelligence program, which was responsible for the imprisonment and execution of prominent members of the Black Panther Party, as well.

Her hands were cut off to impede the identification process before her body was dumped in a ditch. 'Indian from the North' refers to the fact that she originated from the country Europeans named 'Canada.'

The second verse, which is repeated four times for emphasis, was inspired by the following quote from Shoghí Effendi, the Guardian of the Baháʼí Faith, from the introduction to a book by his grandfather, Baháʼu'lláh, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf:

'We long for happiness, and then reject it is brought to us. Because happiness for human beings means being raised out of the blind physical world into the conscious life of the spirit, and this can only be done by the Prophet of God. At His advent, we fight and resist Him, whether he is Moses or Buddha, Jesus or Muhammad...'

So what is the song saying? That we all have to become followers of some 'religion' to become happy? No. Simply that we are so busy complaining we refuse to listen to anyone who offers answers or who simply attempts to offer an alternative. In fact, our response to teachings of love and compassion is almost always with violence, and later, in the so-called 'followers' of those teachers, hatred and division.

So what is freedom? True freedom? Some arbitrary reshuffling of the political cards? A few symposiums on human rights? I say those are drops in the bucket. True freedom is an undaunted search for spiritual and material wisdom and truth, a knowledge of self, and respect for those around you.

Until we serve each other, we're not free."

- Ryan Downey, 1995

A few notes (2023):

The title is from a lyric by Arrested Development, from the song "Raining Revolution," found on their 1992 debut album:

"The rain, this time, I feel is mental
The goal of this rain I feel is spiritual
Saw through the eyes of the inflicted people
Their eyes are hard as a million tombstones"

It was also the name of a 1993 VHS documentary about the Atlanta hip-hop group (though I didn't know that at the time).

The "she" in the first verse is Aquash. The "he" is the system.

The song condemns violence perpetrated by the state and violence perpetrated by revolutionaries and freedom fighters alike -- "killing sprees" (state-sponsored terror), and "car bombings" (domestic insurgents).