"Love, That's America" is a song written by

Melvin Van Peebles Melvin Van Peebles (born Melvin Peebles; August 21, 1932 – September 21, 2021) was an American actor, filmmaker, writer, and composer. He worked as an active filmmaker into the 2000s. His feature film debut, ''The Story of a Three-Day Pass'' ( ...

in 1970 for his film '' Watermelon Man''. He re-recorded it for his 1971 album ''

As Serious as a Heart-Attack ''As Serious as a Heart-Attack'' is a 1971 spoken word album by Melvin Van Peebles. This is Van Peebles third studio record. The album's cover can be briefly glimpsed on the bathroom door in Van Peebles' 1973 film '' Don't Play Us Cheap''. Track ...

''. In 2011, the song became associated with the

Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest Social movement, movement against economic inequality and the Campaign finance, influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial District, Manhattan, Wall S ...

movement due to being used on videos featuring footage from the movement.

Song development

The song was written by Van Peebles for his only Hollywood production, ''Watermelon Man''. Van Peebles wrote the soundtrack himself, in order to have creative control. The song is narrated from the point of view of someone walking around America, and seeing "people run through the streets, blood streaming from where they been beat", and declaring "naw, this ain't America, you can't fool me". In 1970, the song was released as a single, and mentioned as a top pick in ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

s Oct 31, 1970 issue.

Video

The first video featuring video from

(mostly involving police brutality) and the audio from the song was uploaded to YouTube on October 26, 2011, which was quickly endorsed via Van Peebles' Facebook page and mentioned in several blogs. On November 8, this video was presented at an Occupy Wall Street benefit at Zebulon Cafe Concert in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. In mid-November, several other videos featuring footage associated with Occupy Wall Street and the audio from the song were also uploaded, which have been featured in many blogs. None of these videos were created by Van Peebles, despite the claims made on some blogs, but he did endorse the making of these videos. On November 18, ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and f ...

'' published an interview with Van Peebles from November 7, which discussed the original video as well as the fact that it has "gone viral". On December 5, 2011, Turkish newspaper ''Radikal'' described it as the surprising unofficial anthem of the movement, and mentions three

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

videos that use the song in connection with the movement. On January 17, 2012, Van Peebles played the

Players' Club The Players (often inaccurately called The Players Club) is a private social club founded in New York City by the noted 19th-century Shakespearean actor Edwin Booth. In 1888, Booth purchased an 1847 mansion at 16 Gramercy Park, reserved an ...

to honor the fact that the song has become a theme for the Occupy Wall Street movement. On February 22, 2012, Van Peebles commented further, "When I found out that the song had been co-opted by Occupy Wall Street, my jaw dropped. It went viral online. People were remixing it and mashing it up with videos from the protests. The time I wrote it was a time of social upheaval — the Stonewall Riots had just happened. Forty years later, the same thing was going down in the streets of New York City.""Melvin Van Peebles: Love, That’s Occupy Wall Street, MetroFocus, February 22, 2012.
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References

{{authority control 1970 songs Songs written for films