The song/music video “This Is America” by Childish Gambino is a song I think most people have heard of, at least for the unique music video that was released soon after the song. This song was meant to explore the racial injustices faced by Gambino himself but is also meant to tell a story about people who look just like him. He starts the song explaining to us all the things his grandmother told him as a child and explains to him the injustices black people face in America. The main scene in the music video, the church, holds much significance as it. To me, it is showing that even among the innocent and righteous, minorities are looked down on, inferior, and as criminals. They simply aren’t given a chance. Something that I struggle is, is how so many times we hear people say something along the lines of “race isn’t important”, or “we need to focus on being united humanity”, nevertheless we see the uniqueness in the job force, educational sector, healthcare, and unequal due process. When will it be enough to talk and more do? Another thing I would like to examine is the church choir that is seen throughout the music video which further explains how the innocent are treated disproportionally. Specifically, the opening church scene with the choir, involves the innocent lives of people going about life who is then brutally murdered. Through the music video, he explains by the line “this is America” that it is normal corruption against minorities is normal innocent or not. Minorities are convicted and sent to a life of injustice for doing nothing but being themselves. This song/music video brings to fruition the gruesome reality of being a minority in America. This song effectively brings together a lot of the concepts we learned in class, everything from “othering”, to concepts of “Master/Slave”
Hello,
I found this Context Research Presentation to be interesting, as I, too, was incredibly moved by the message behind Childish Gambino’s This is America music video. The song is powerful on its own, but coupled with Gambino’s carefully selected imagery and wardrobe selections it speaks volumes about the racial injustices that continue to plague our country.