‘This is America’: Childish Gambino’s music video offers a biting metaphor for interracial violence
It is already being called the ‘video of the year’.
Calling Childish Gambino aka Donald Glover’s music video (above) This is America politically charged would be the understatement of the year. This is America really is contemporary America – it is Glover’s America, the average African-American’s America, and currently, it is also Donald Trump’s America.
People all over the internet are already calling it the “video of the year”, and there’s good reason why.
Glover’s music video, directed by long-time collaborator Hiro Murai, is a visceral and metaphorical representation of violence, especially interracial violence, in America over the years. It is a bold, biting commentary on modern American discourse and the racial disparity, gun violence and vanity that come with it. Most crucially, it is a deeply nuanced visual manifestation of how social trends and pop culture – in this case, Glover’s dancing – pose as a serious distraction from all the chaos in the background.
The video follows, in what looks like a long single-take, Glover dancing manically through a warehouse – an entirely white warehouse, it should be noted. School children follow Glover’s dancing move for move, except when he dramatically stops to shoot a man, and an entire gospel choir (remember the 2015 Charleston shooting?)
The symbolism is apparent – each time, the gun is wrapped in a cloth and carried away like precious cargo, while the bodies are either left behind or dragged away. Glover, meanwhile, continues to gleefully dance away, performing some of the trendiest dance moves like the Hustle and Gwara Gwara while he ignores the chaos, violence and riots that erupt in the background.
The video is studded with famous African-American stars (look closely at the choir) and ad-libs from other rappers, which simply reinforces the point that while the rest of the world embraces black art and culture, they choose to ignore the racial disparity and violence black people face in their real lives.
This is America is a video that needs to be watched not once, but again and again, to slowly peel away the symbolism and, very plainly, to notice everything going on in the background. The tweets below explain it:
The more you watch the #ThisIsAmerica video, the more you realize that there's so much going on in the background and that Donald is just a distraction - and that's the whole point. #StayWoke (don't catch you slippin' now)
— Siyabonga Mahlaba 🎨 (@sabu_mahlaba) May 6, 2018
So much symbolism in #ThisIsAmerica 1. Guns are handled with care 2. The kids are following his every move 3. Travon Martins dad playing the guitar 4. Dance moves depicting americas shopping craze 5. The people recording on their phones. SO MUCH MAN!
— Mel_OD K. Howard (@MEL_OD) May 6, 2018
Shook by how fast I caught this reference. I haven’t seen a Jim Crow picture in years. Donald Glover did not come to play with y’all today. #ThisIsAmerica pic.twitter.com/5Xq4tLSJ7P
— Nichia (@nicky_furiosa) May 6, 2018
"And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him." - Rev.6:8#ThisIsAmerica pic.twitter.com/eqIfQqQCAC
— Justin Berling (@JustinBerling) May 6, 2018
So many layers of symbolism
— Mario (@MarioLipkin) May 6, 2018
-References to mass shootings & hysteria
-Black men shot; meanwhile the guns are handled with care
-The current state of hip hop; seemingly unaffected by anything going on
I could go on. Donald Glover you nailed it.#ThisIsAmerica
When you wanna count off the church scene as hyperbolic but you realize that Charleston really happened.....at Bible Study.
— Shihabe masum (@shihab_masum) May 6, 2018
Also, notice how [black] bodies were left while the gun was handled with respect and care. #ThisIsAmerica
People are so caught up in Gambino’s shoot that they don’t even realize what the hell is going on in the background. He’s literally talking about people who don’t care about what’s happening in society, but care about the latest dance fad. He’s talking about y’all.#ThisIsAmerica
— E-Money 🤑 (@imanimlewis) May 6, 2018