Jacques: To fully grasp Childish Gambino’s “This Is America,” you have to watch the music video more than once.
And in searching for symbolism, you might miss a major part - the lyrics.
Gambino’s opening upbeat bars dramatically shift to a darker tone
and catch the listener off guard.
When you juxtapose these lyrics with the video featuring him dancing with a group of kids
amidst anarchy or handing off his weapons carefully after he's just shot someone,
it seems like he's targeting racism and America’s gun problem at the same time.
The verse's "celly" and "tool" mentions may be a nod to Stephon Clark,
who was killed by Sacramento police in 2018.
Lester Holt: And we are now getting our first look at that shooting.
Police apparently thinking he was holding a gun, now say it was a cellphone.
Jacques: In addition to referencing Florida rapper Kodak Black, ‘kodak’ could also note how
some kids are filming the dancing on their cell phone cameras.
This may symbolize the commodification of stereotypical black culture,
which Gambino’s later bars seem to allude to.
Gambino’s dance moves, choreographed by Sherrie Silver, seem to be an intentional
distraction from the violence he is committing and the madness around him.
As The New Yorker’s Doreen St. Felix put it,
This is what it’s like... to be black in America—at any given time,
vulnerable to joy or to destruction.
And as we’re focused on his dancing, Gambino pulls the rug out from under us.
Gambino's words paired with his violence in the video illustrate the uncomfortable
part of being black in America, where you can be arrested or killed at any moment.
Glover’s creative director told WYNC that they sought to contextualize the black experience.
Ibra Ake: This is how we would like to dance but we have to be aware of the danger
and the politics of how we're perceived and the implications of history of how we were treated.
Jacques: As the video ends we see Childish running down a dark hallway which could be evoking
Jordan Peele’s 'Get Out.'
It could also be a nod to the relationship between black art and suffering
and how sometimes our creative representation can be twisted into stereotypes that can be used against us.
Donald Glover: I just wanted to make, you know, a good song and, like,
something that people could play on Fourth of July.
Jacques: We all live in one America - but exist in different spaces of the red, white and blue.
Donald discussed his aim to depict this on his show 'Atlanta,' during an interview with the New Yorker, saying quote,
I don’t even want [white people] laughing if they’re laughing at the caged animal
in the zoo…
I want them to really experience racism, to really feel what it’s like to be black in America.
I’m Jacques Morel with Genius News, bringing you the meaning and the knowledge behind the music.
Peace!