Childish Gambino's -This is America

The Importance of Childish Gambino’s ‘This Is America’

By Niara Savage

Photo Credits http://thissongissick.com/post/donald-glover-childish-gambino-new-music

When Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover, released his new hit single, ‘This Is America,’ the satirical video sparked a social media firestorm. The video, which features a shirtless Gambino making odd but expressive facial expressions and disjointed movements reminiscent of the civil rights era Jim Crow caricature of Black men, reached epic internet proportions. Garnering more than 100 million views in nine days, it caused a wildflower of opinions and immediate decoding and vast interpretations of the video’s true meaning.

While the video highlights some of the major controversial and risqué issues the country faces today, such as social injustice and gun violence, it also points out the blindness of society due to the ability to overlook modern-day human rights issues to instead favor keeping up with recent social media trends and the latest dance moves.

At first glance, the video seems inconspicuous. Childish Gambino instantly catches the viewer’s attention with his vibrant dance moves. On the surface, these dance moves appear to be the focal point of the video, causing an unawareness to the chaos happening all around. The eyes are often drawn to Gambino, who is always front and center, as he moves throughout the garage-like structure in which the video was shot. It is easy to perceive and view ‘This Is America’ as simply another music video that will induce new dance fads and social trends.

Niara Savage

Upon taking a closer look, and perhaps after viewing the video several times, it becomes clear that much more sinister activities with heavy subliminal messages are taking place behind the dancing Gambino. For example, the execution-style killing of a seated musician at the start of the video, as well as the massacre of a church choir, eerily reminiscent of the Charleston church shooting. What’s interesting is that the weapons are routinely handled with care following the shooting incidents, while the bodies are haphazardly dragged away. Perhaps this represents America’s tendency to protect gun rights, even at the risk of losing human lives.

Another notable pattern in the video is that Childish Gambino is never arrested or in any way punished for his crimes. As the video nears an end, he paused for a few seconds, as if for a moment in silence and then begins to smoke a joint. Although not proven, some may argue that this may be a nod to the justice system’s tendency to punish drug offenders with somewhat harsh sentences. The video ends with Gambino running in haste, appearing to be running for his life, as a mob of men chases after him.

Several decoding and subliminal messages can be interpreted depending on each individual’s point of view, belief system and take on America and society today. Although ‘This Is America’ may be interpreted differently depending on its viewers and commentators, the video has surely captured the attention of internet users across the world. It has challenged the community to talk, have intellectual conversations and address the taboo controversial topics witnessed throughout the video. Hopefully, these intellectual conversations that have been brought to the forefront will continue to spark conversations and actions that will lead to meaningful change.

Bio

Niara Savage is an author, freelance journalist, and Fisk University political science major. Her debut novel about a young boy whose brother is killed by a night watchman, The Killing of Gregory Noble, will be released in June 2018. In her free time, Niara enjoys writing, and inline skating. She is also passionate about working with youth and is specifically interested in reducing the literacy gap among Black students.

Website: themodernabolitionist.com Instagram: @niaratheauthor Email: niaraalexandra@gmail.com

Niara Savage