"This Is America." Childish Gambino's response to systemic racism.

Racism and racist values have been the root of our society since before you and I were born. Systemic racism has not only been a past issue but is still an issue that affects our country to this day -- whether we’d like to believe it or not. From Jim Crow Laws to the Charleston church shooting, it seems as though we may not have progressed as a society as much as we’d like to think we have. Current media outlets touch on so many current political issues that it may be hard to keep up, but one issue in particular that we’ve yet to turn the blind eye to is racism. A most recent response to the way that America has been treating its minorities --black people in particular-- has been seen and heard worldwide and is the current talk of social media. Actor/Artist/Rapper Donald Glover, formally known by his stage name Childish Gambino, released a song titled “This Is America,” accompanied by visuals that will turn your stomach with reality.

Gambino simultaneously released his new song while hosting an episode of Saturday Night Live as well as on YouTube, which currently has 167 million views and counting. The video seems as though it is a response as well as an eye opener to issues of racism and oppression in current America. Gambino uses imagery to create a blend between symbolism and realism.

As the video begins, there is a black male playing the guitar in a chair. The imagery quickly switches to the man in the chair with a bag over his head and Gambino with a gun pointed at the mans head. Gambino poses, then shoots the man in the back of the head and gently hands off the gun to another person. The use and cohesion of past and present history is prevalent and impactful in this imagery alone. The history behind the pose that Gambino stands in is eerily similar to the original stance of the “Jim Crow” caricature in the early 1800’s. If you don’t already know, the “Jim Crow” caricature personified what was seen to be the typical black person. A white male dressed all in black face would dance around like a fool and stereotypically act as though a black person would act in that time. This of course, was based entirely on stereotypical assumptions and demonizations of black people and their culture. This caricature soon was adapted into Jim Crow Segregation Laws which segregated blacks from whites.

Left, Gambino's stance as he shoots an innocent black man. Right, the original caricature of "Jim Crow" in the early 1800's.

When Gambino hands off the gun, each time he uses it throughout the video, it is shown that there is much more care placed in handling the gun than there is in handling the massacred body. I believe that this symbolism shows the reality of how society is not only desensitized to the innocent lives that are being lost due to race wars, but that when it comes to a black person being murdered cold blooded in the streets, we seem to care more about everything else except the victim.

Moments after Gambino shoots the man, he delicately hands off his weapon while no care is made to the victim who is immediately dragged out of the scene by his arms. 

Throughout the video, while singing his lyrics “this is America, don’t catch you slippin’ no. Look what I’m whippin' up, police be trippin' huh,” Gambino uses over exaggerated facial expressions which are in reference to racist entertainment in the early 1800’s, where white people would dress up in black face and mock black people. He flaunts big eyes, big smiles, and awkward body movements to depict the way that America has previously viewed the black culture as.

Facial expressions made by Gambino depicting past mocking's of black people by whites. 

About half way through the video, there is a church choir that is singing Gambino’s lyrics. Their harmonious tune is quickly come to an abrupt halt when Gambino is tossed a semi-automatic weapon and graphically mass murders the entire choir. This scene depicts the 2015 Charleston, S.C. church shooting where a 21 year old white supremacist mass murdered nine churchgoers at a historically black church during a prayer service.

Church choir minding their business and singing harmoniously.

The church choir massacred by Gambino and his semi-automatic rifle.

An article about Gambino's video posted in the Washington Post, interviewed the Rev. Sharon Risher, daughter of Emanuel AME church shooting victim Ethel Lance. Risher says that “sadly enough, their death is normalized.” She goes on to speak about how current America is viewed by our youth. "It's definitely impactful. Unfortunately, that was America represented through the lens of a young black man,” she said. “For the millions of people, especially young people, who will watch it, it makes you pause and think, 'How are you going to survive being black in America?' and how you must navigate to survive."

Without the use of fallacy, the realism and imagery in Gambinos video speaks for itself. He inputs desensitized bystanders with cell phones recording the atrocities happening around, and if you pay close enough attention, you will notice the background scenes of rioting and chaos; all of this is happening behind Gambino while he and a group of youngins are dancing. I believe that this is supposed to be a depiction of how things like social media and modern music is distracting the viewers from what’s actually happening in today’s society: racism, bigotry, and police brutality.

Desensitized America youth shown as bystanders recording everything that is happening on their cell phones while not interfering. 

Gambino uses imagery, symbolism, and present day scenarios to evoke emotion and awareness of the oppression of black people and systemic racism in current day America. "Gambino through this video becomes America’s conscience." The combination of imagery and metaphor that Gambino uses throughout this video act as an imperative tool that hopefully will aid the removal of oppression and advocate for making America great for the first time in its systemically racist history.