This is America

Carson Josey
Sep 5, 2018 · 3 min read

This is America by rapper Childish Gambino is a testament to American society and the inequality that the African American community is still facing to this day. Both the lyrics of the song and the heavy symbolism in the music video help prove the point that African American people are still being marginalized.

The music video takes place in an abandoned warehouse and opens with a man sitting in a chair playing the guitar with Childish Gambino dancing to the music in the background. The camera then pans back to the man playing the guitar but now he has a hood over his head and Gambino is given a gun and he shoots the man in the head. Thus, starting the events of the music video. Shooting the man in the head is the first instance of the brutality that African American people face and the fact that he is wearing a hood shows how many nameless African Americans are killed and people never hear about it. The beginning of the video is not the only time the music video shows violence against African American people. In another scene a gospel choir is singing, and Gambino is once again given a gun, this time an automatic rifle, and he kills them all. This is a direct nod to the Charleston Church shooting in which Dylan Roof went into the church and started shooting, killing nine people. As the camera pans away from the dead church goers, rioters can be scene running toward the shooting. This shows the subsequent outcry and protests that happened after the Charleston shooting. In the lyrics one particular scene that shows the unfair violence against African Americans is the line “black man get down”. This a representation of the police brutality and unnecessary stopping of African American men. While the music video shows the violence against African American people, it also shows how their culture is portrayed in the media.

As the video progresses from one chaotic scene to another, Gambino is scene doing different dance moves that have been attributed to the African American community that have become taken over by popular culture. In another scene, people wearing masks can be scene above the chaos filming what is happening on their phones. This shows how people film the terrible things happening in the world, while doing nothing to stop it and remaining anonymous.

At the end of the video, Gambino is scene firing a gun into a crowd, but nothing happens to him. He only gets chased by police once he stands on top of a car and lights a joint.This represents how police are more interested in stopping African Americans for something as simple as marijuana but ignore the violence that they face on a day to day basis.It is also prevalent in the lyrics in the lines “don’t catch you slippin’ now” which is featured many times in the song and calls out police for having an unnecessary interest in catching African American people committing crimes, even if it is something small.

This is America is a commentary on the treatment of African American people both in the past and the present.