A Glimpse Into A Twisted Reality: Childish Gambino, This Is America
By: Isabella Byars
Tags: Gun Violence In America, America, Racism, Violence

Nurses rushed around the hospital, trying to calm the patients in their rooms while covering their TVs with spare sheets, letting them know everything was okay when in reality it was the worst news America could have ever expected. The date was September 11, 2001. At approximately at 10:45am, I was born. From the exact moment I came out of the womb, violence and chaos surrounded me, followed with the news of the second fallen tower in New York. All I’ve heard my whole life since that time was how brutality and unfairness towards people in America were rising, and all I’ve known since a young age was how corrupt our system in was. Although, I may never understand what others have personally gone through and are still going through to this day in this country, I can still see how these certain horrible events can and have affected them. I’ve never known or seen anything different, and many people around my age can agree with me. I am nineteen now and one of the most influential music videos I have seen in my life that accurately depicts the normal lives of the American people was that from Childish Gambino, “This Is America.” This music video does an outstanding job of accurately depicting and addressing some of the most common social ills in America today such as: the misdirection of the press, the ongoing gun violence, and the ever-growing problem of racism which is blatantly ignored.

This Is America, by Childish Gambino (GRAPHIC CONTENT)

Social media and certain news outlets have never been a very reliable and trustworthy place for important information. There is always something dishonest, made up or twisted in a way to calm people rather than inform them of the truth. Since nowadays this has become such a large problem, Donald Glover, also known as Childish Gambino, blatantly demonstrates how far the media has strayed from accurately depicting the issues the people of America face. In the first part of his music video, the camera brings a seated man playing a guitar into view before panning over to Gambino, revealing that he is only dressed in pants and shoes. He begins to dance in exaggerated movements while making wild facial expressions, which Sonia Rao stated in her Washington Post article, “mimics that of the minstrel character Jim Crow, the origin of the term used to describe pre-Civil rights-era segregation laws.” He used this analogy to represent how black Americans have been looked at through media for decades. They have been portrayed very poorly by past white Americans in the 40s doing black face on TV to represent them, as well as drawing them in a joking manner in cartoons. His expressions and body movements while he dances closer to the seated man are used to distract the audience from the violence that happens throughout the video, just like how America’s media outlet distracts people from the twisted reality we live in and the real problems we face. In another part of the video the camera quickly passes by some young teens with their phones out as Gambino says, “This a celly, that’s a tool.” Rao also brings to attention that, “Cellphones have been used to record police officers shooting or choking black people in the past few years” which is entirely true, since I’ve witnessed it with my own eyes while using social media. While keeping the violence happening around the U.S. in mind, Gambino demonstrates the problem with the news, while pretending like none of the looting, rioting, or shooting is going on around him while he dances throughout the music video, just as the media ignores the many problems black Americans face. Social media is full of distractions that keep almost all Americans from recognizing that the world around them is falling apart.

Along with the oppression of black Americans through false media, gun violence has also been more of a problem than it’s ever been. Aside from his trance like dancing, the only thing that distracts you from it is the shootings. From the first part of the video when he kills the man in the chair, you can tell that the guns he uses are cared for more than the people who just died. After each gun he uses to kill, he hands them to someone with outstretched hands holding a red cloth to carefully take it back from him. This is a gesture to how some people of Red America seem to value guns and the right to keep and bear arms over human lives, hence the red cloth. This is a very strong statement given the current debate over gun control in America. These murders are gestures to modern day gun violence in America, which is preluded in the second verse of the song by a happy choir who are all gunned down by Gambino when he is handed an assault rifle by someone offscreen. This blatantly hints towards the Charleston Church shooting which occurred in 2015, in which some of the church attendees were gunned down by a 23-year-old white supremacist named Dylann Roof, who was also unapologetic for his actions afterwards. Gun violence is not just a small problem in U.S. cities. According to Laura Anastasia, author of the Junior Scholastic article “Gun Violence in America” she states that, “Nearly 40,000 people — from every state and background — died from gun-related injuries in 2017.” It just feels to me now, personally, after growing up in a time were gun violence occurs almost every day nation-wide, that death in America from violence has become normalized thanks to the media. Later in the video, there’s a silent pause with faint screams heard in the background while the teens who were previously dancing with Gambino ran away in terror, leaving him alone to light up a cigarette. This was to symbolize and recognize the multiple students who were gunned down and killed in the Florida Parkland shooting due to gun violence. In the video, Glover uses dancing after he’s just murdered someone to show how unfazed he is by the actions that just took place. As Aida Amoako says in her post about Gambino’s music video on The Atlantic, “The shooting itself is shocking, but so is that fact that Glover carries on dancing as if nothing happened.” It’s a very sad thing to me when such horrible things take place almost every day and people can still be unfazed because they are sadly used to the violence. “This is America, don’t catch you slipping up” (Gambino) The simple yet powerful lyrics and soft beat make you relax and feel comfortable in a way while listening to the song, until it’s disrupted by loud gunfire that startles you and reminds you that in America you can’t let your guard down. Unfazed by violence, just how most of America feels towards gun violence and especially racism, unintentional or intentional, either way, it seems to take over the minds of many.

Racism in America is one of the most prominent problems that we as Americans face in our everyday lives. Although not all of us know what it’s like to live your life, day by day in constant fear, the ones who listen and care, can see the struggle and harshness of the world around them. Donald Glover throughout his music video, has demonstrated the many problems that plague America even to this day, and has bluntly shown his audience that they have been brainwashed to feel safe in their own country when violence is happening all around them, almost every day. From the false news on social media, to the gun violence that kills many Americans every single day, to the horrible racism that doesn’t seem to be getting better at all after all this time. Selfishness is another large contributor to racism, since we as humans tend to become very selfish and only care about our own wellbeing. Throughout Gambino’s video there were several powerful hints to racism, but the one that stood out the most for me, was in the last scene where he stood on top of an old dormant car among others in the background, still inside the enclosed warehouse. Many of these cars resembled those in the 1992 Los Angeles riots, “which began after a jury acquitted police officers of using excessive force while arresting (and beating) Rodney King.” (Rao) Many people, including myself have seen these old cars as a representation of how our country has “stalled the socioeconomic and political mobility of black Americans” (Rao). They could also mean the lack of progress and forward movement within the country. These cars are also meant as a contrast between the newer and fancier luxury cars found in most music videos nowadays, which really gets you to think about the lack of progress and change in America. In the last and final scene, it shows him running down a dark hallway, running like his life depended on it. It’s almost as if this was to show that he finally realized about how America has brainwashed him into thinking that everything was okay, when it was the exact opposite which resulted with him doing everything he could to get out. It’s such a stark difference from him smiling and dancing throughout the entire video up until this point, while he’s being chased by white people. Gambino’s use of all these points through imagery shows a quality performance and demands absolute attention from all his viewers.

The imagery that Glover presents through his video, gives very strong points on gun violence, social media and news misdirection, and widespread racism throughout the U.S. I feel that this music video must be one of the best and most talked about among American people, given the fact that he so willingly demonstrated violence and addressed all the problems black Americans face in today’s world, after years of oppression. Although, most of the violence nowadays can affect everyone, which is why this video is so important. Even though this video was released back in 2018, it becomes more and more relevant to this day. Donald Glover has gone above and beyond to create such a masterpiece all while raising awareness to the Americans that turn a blind eye to violence or believe that racism isn’t a real problem. I feel that Glover is a very talented and accomplished artist and has done everything within his power to help people understand that they have been tricked into thinking everything is okay with the world around them and that the violence they see on social media isn’t something to be ignored. “Racism isn’t getting worse, it’s getting filmed” (Will Smith).