Ella McCoy

14 March 2022

Is a black man’s experience in America largely based on the color of his skin?

Looking at the music video of Childish Gambino’s song, This is America, there are many

symbols that bring the music video together to portray the chaotic and destructive reality of

society. The setting of the video takes place in a warehouse resembling a prison to demonstrate

the oppression of African-Americans. Individuals in the video have limited space to perform

dances and sing in choirs. In the video, Gambino dances around in the old Confederate uniform

pants and shoes making dramatic facial expressions and suddenly strikes a pose with his hand

holding a gun and shoots a man as the base drops. The lyrics of the song begin with “This is

America” changing the tone of the video to recreate tragic events of African Americans losing

lives to police brutality and racialized hate crimes. The question is raised, is a Black man’s

experience in America largely based on the color of his skin? Gambino provides his take by

showing the sad truth that Black people are either invisible or negatively portrayed as illnesses to

society, but the violence is hidden from the public.

Gambino’s pose while shooting the gun is a reference to Jim Crow, a racist character

from the 1830’s. He dances around while a Black man is playing a guitar, entertaining the

viewer. But the threat of violence is entangled from that entertainment, so the innocent man gets

shot. Shortly after, the gun disappears in a red cloth. This represents America’s pro-gun policy as

the victim’s body remains lifeless on the ground and is dragged off screen as if the human’s life

has no value. He is illustrating the importance that Americans put on value of guns over human

beings.
The harsh reality of racial discrimination is hidden from the public since African Americans

celebrities tend to be shielded from the chaos and violence. The dancing group dancing with

Gambino were unaffected by the individuals in the back that were running away from crime. By

keeping the violence in the background, away from Gambino and those in the front, representing

society, it can continue to go on unseen by the public. Throughout the entirety of the video, the

audience is easily distracted by Gambino’s performance that no one is paying attention to the

reality and chaos happening in the back. Data collected by Caroline Wolf Harlow, Ph.D, a BJS

Statistician, shows that approximately 44% of hate crimes were reported to the police, and even

less were reported in the media. Over 50% of hate crimes identified race as the offenders’

motivation. Gambino’s message is that he doesn’t want society to be distracted by the superficial

entertainment that keeps us away from the truth of American society. The harsh reality is that

racial discrimination and violence is shielded from the public, especially since African American

celebrities tend to stay out of it.

In the video, Gambino realizes the true reality when he lights a blunt and the police go after him,

he is terrified and runs for his life. While he is running, the lyrics say “You just a big dog, I

kenneled him in the backyard. No proper life to a dog, for a big dog.” Gambino's eyes are big

and white contrasting the blackness of the screen making him look dog-like. He is comparing his

position to that of a dog, where he is being persecuted for drugs after seeming to get away with

several shootings. This part is included to show how the police are more worried about drugs

than the issues of gun violence and other crimes. This brings us back to the question asking if the

color of his skin affects this treatment. Gambino’s character demonstrates that according to

society, Black people always do drugs, and it is the police’s job to stop them from doing so,

treating him like a dog.

The purpose of Gambino’s music video is to raise public awareness to the issues of racial

discrimination and gun violence. His character teaches us that the way people are treated in

society is based on the color of their skin and hate crimes are committed based solely on racial

stereotypes. His video encourages the audience not to be distracted by the media, as it is all an

illusion.

https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/hcrvp.pdf