BURBANK, Calif. — Gary Clark Jr. has created a lot of conversation with “This Land,” the provocative first song off his latest album that shares the same name.
In the angry blues-rock song, he recounts racial epithets hurled his way and other racist taunts before he defiantly asserts that he too is “America’s son.” In the accompanying video, young black children confront racist imagery, including a noose, among other disturbing things.
Clark says the song was sparked after he sensed a change in his Austin, Texas neighborhood during the 2016 presidential election campaign between Hillary Clinton and eventual victor Donald Trump, and then a confrontation with a neighbor prompted him to write it.
“I’m not going to try and explain all of it, but you could see it in the news and what the narrative was. Having two young ones, it kind of made me concerned about what we were getting into,” said the 35-year-old musician.
Clark says a neighbor met him outside the home he’d recently purchased and told him there was no way he – a black man – could be its owner.
“I had to deal with something out in front of my house – I’m going to check the mail and I’m with my kid and I’m confronted by racism at my front door.”
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