On May 5, 2018, Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino, released a music video for his song "This Is America." The video depicts many issues within the nation in addition to how American culture views black culture.

In my opinion, the video is a cinematic masterpiece; the dancing and images can easily distract one from seeing what Glover really means, which is exactly his point.

Glover's video parallels America in several ways, here's how.

1. America values guns more than black lives.

Throughout the video, guns are shot numerous times. After each shot and death, the gun is removed from the scene with care while the black body is dragged away.

In my opinion, this is a reference to many Americans' attachment to their guns. Guns are dangerous to every member of the human race, but in recent years most of the stories we hear about gun violence involve blacks.

This could also be a reference to the numerous times police officers have been acquitted of murder charges.

2. Hate crimes.

At one point in the video, a church choir is seen singing, only to be silenced by Glover shooting the members of the choir with an assault rifle.

This is an allusion to a hate crime, more specifically the Charleston Church shooting of 2015.

3. Reference to Jim Crow.

At the start of the video, Glover takes a stance similar to the pose of the fictional character, Jim Crow, who is representative of the white man's view of black people. Glover then proceeds to shoot a masked, unarmed black man in the back, a boo.

4. America loves black culture but not black people.

Black people in America are at the bottom. We are far less tolerated and accepted than any other race. It is my opinion that our hardships and exploitation are what this country thrives off of economically. All the while we are also viewed as a form of entertainment and are often the victims of cultural appropriation.

5. Distraction by dance moves.

In each scene the dance moves distract from the chaos in the background. Much like how we are often distracted from tragedies by pop culture and the newest trends.

As chaos ensues in the background, many of us fail to notice as we are only focused on the main attraction and unable to process what is going on behind.