Childish Gambino – This Is America

* Violence scenes presented on the video

“This Is America” is a song by American rapper Childish Gambino (Donald Glover). Written and produced by Glover and Ludwig Göransson, it was released on May 5, 2018 and now is having almost ~170 million views and 4.2 mil of likes. The song features background vocals by American rappers Young Thug, Slim Jxmmi, BlocBoy JB, 21 Savage, and Quavo and was directed by Japanese filmmaker Hiro Murai, a frequent Glover collaborator. According to RCA Records, the song is not the first single from Childish Gambino’s upcoming studio album.

Shot in a fluid format, the music video balances well-choreographed moments amid scenes of brutal violence, including the use of guns, physical harm, and even suicide. Both the lyrics and visuals take a hard-hitting stance on violence and race relations within the U.S., while ultimately speaking to how they’re downplayed, romanticized, or even ignored.

Some famous tweets about the Childish Gambino – This Is America :

“This is America” rly shows how distant Glover is from the black public. He invokes imagery of the Charleston shooting to shock white viewers w little regard for the living, breathing survivors. It’s like he learned how to love (and use) his blackness without loving black people.
— Kaila Philo (@kailanthropie)

That’s when the dancing begins, as a distraction to the rioting in the background. The world is so eager to adopt black culture (Blocboy JB’s dance) whilst ignoring the racial injustices they face.
-LK (@thelocalemo)

Guns are treated with more respect than human lives: the gun is carried off carefully by a nicely-dressed man, whereas the corpse is dragged off and immediately disregarded.
-LK (@thelocalemo)

The choir scene alludes to the Charleston mass shooting by Dylan Roof in 2015. The shooter (Donald in this case) walks away unscathed.
-LK (@thelocalemo)

Kids are seen recording everything on their phones, referencing the use of livestreams in police shootings as a means of documenting and sharing the truth. Gambino‘s lyrics state, “this is a celly, that’s a tool”.
-LK (@thelocalemo)

Like a summary, “This Is America” graphically depicts gun violence, with some claiming the video, in certain scenes, is trying to convey how firearms are treated with more respect than human lives. In the opening scenes, Glover shoots an unnamed person, execution style. In the following frame, the gun is carried off in a special cloth by a well-dressed man while the lifeless body is dragged away. Each time someone is shot, this same process takes place.