Love, That's America is a song written by Melvin Van Peebles

Melvin Van Peebles

Melvin "Block" Van Peebles is an American actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, novelist and composer.He is most famous for creating the acclaimed film, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, which heralded a new era of African American focused films...

 in 1970 for his film Watermelon Man

Watermelon Man (film)

Watermelon Man is a 1970 American comedy-drama film directed by Melvin Van Peebles and based on the book The Night the Sun Came Out on Happy Hollow Lane by Herman Raucher...

. He rerecorded it for his 1971 album As Serious as a Heart-Attack

As Serious As A Heart-Attack

As Serious As A Heart-Attack is an album by Melvin Van Peebles. The album's cover can be briefly glimpsed on the bathroom door in the 1973 film version of Van Peebles' musical Don't Play Us Cheap.-Cityside 2:#JUST DONT MAKE NO SENSE#DEARMISTUH...

. In 2011, the song became associated with the Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street is an ongoing series of demonstrations initiated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters which began September 17, 2011 in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Wall Street financial district...

 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 Magazine's Oct 31, 1970 issue.

Video

The first video featuring video from Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street is an ongoing series of demonstrations initiated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters which began September 17, 2011 in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Wall Street financial district...

 (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

Zebulon Cafe Concert

Zebulon Cafe Concert is a cafe/bar in Brooklyn that hosts live music shows. It is considered a critic's pick by New York Magazine.Owned by Guillaume Blestel and Jef Soubiran, Zebulon features nightly performances by local and international musicians and performers, including Ravi Shankar and Melvin...

 in Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

. 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

Newsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area...

published an interview with Van Peebles from November 7, which discussed the original video as well as the fact that it has "gone viral".