As an African American in the United States, I have witnessed or been part of racial discrimination. Not many things surprise me anymore. But I was wrong, Childish Gambino's new song has put to words all the issues black people face. Which is great, especially that he is married to a white person, which is not very common.
We have all seen the new music video "This is America," and the amazing thing about this song is the many hidden messages in the video and lyrics. It is amazing that so many people miss these messages because they are too focused on his dancing, which actually is another slick message. Although there are over 20 hidden messages in the song, it is important to pay attention to the five main points. So here I will break down the five most important things to pay attention to.
1. Jim Crow
First main thing on the list is Jim Crow. At the beginning of the video, he is dancing and he stops, making a particular stance, then proceeds to shoot. The stance he made was about Jim Crow. Back in the day, that is how black people were portrayed. There is actually a song called "Jump Jim Crow," where this stance is the cover picture. Basically, the hidden message is about slavery, Jim Crow laws and how they made fun of and portrayed black people.
2. The Charleston Shooting
The second most important hidden message to notice is the shooting of the choir, which refers to the hate crime from a white supremacist. That white supremacist (whom I shall not name) murdered nine African Americans. Not to mention the fact that the Charleston shooting happened as recently as June 17, 2015. In the video they are singing and enjoying life and then boom, they all get shot. Why do they get killed? For being black. Adding it to the video symbolizes another big part of history.
3. The horseman of death
4. Social media
Here the message is, as teens we are so distracted with social media. With technology we do not notice what is going on around us. People are dying but all we do is record, we do not actually do anything to change it. Him having this in the video is to portray all the chaos going on around but you see teens recording it. None of them are actually doing anything about it.
5. Importance of guns
In the video every time he shoots someone, the gun is put in a small red rag. It is showing the importance of guns. How people care more about their guns then actually what is going on. Which goes back to the issue of people debating whether or not guns laws should be stricter. In the video he is showing that people care more about guns than lives. It is an issue in America. How sad is it that someones life is less important then the gun? The small red rag is representing the importance of it to people.
These were all the main hidden messages that stood out to me in the video. The others are very important, but if no one gets the video they should at least take these 5 points from it. My personal opinion is that the song and video were beautiful, and the name THIS IS AMERICA is literally demonstrating what America--the land of the brave and free--is turning to.
