Platforms

He's a comedian, actor, (Emmy winning) writer, musician, producer, (Grammy award winning) singer, rapper, and an artist in every sense of the word. Donald Glover (a.k.a Childish Gambino) released a powerful short film/video (I will not insult this work by calling it a music video) two months ago. Even though the video, titled "This is America" has only been out for a short time, it has already accrued over 320 million views on YouTube!! WOW!!!!!!!

I must say that I had to watch the video several times. There's so much going on in the video that it's impossible to see, understand, and digest everything in one sitting. At the 53 second mark, Gambino shoots a black man execution style and really "woke" me up and let me know that this was not going to be just some ordinary, trendy sounding, pop culture music video. This was a visual message, a sad truth, and cultural tragedy that I was watching.

After viewing it the first time, I was extremely confused. I was told by others to watch the video again, but this time, focus on what was going on in the background. Once I did this, I was pained to see all of the violence that I had not noticed because I was so focused on what Gambino was doing in the foreground. Focused on the good sounding "trap" beat and his flawless execution of popular dance moves, my attention was diverted from all of the violence going on behind Gambino. This is why you must watch the video more than once, because Gambino creatively interweaves the real life accounts of known violent acts of gun violence against the black community. He also shows how easy it has been to distract society from the issues of gun violence and those who has lost their lives due to being killed by guns. Popular distractions make it so easy for us to forget the fallen and the families who are still trying to fight for the memory of their loved ones in the black community. Forgetting black faces is something that America has NO PROBLEM doing.

In this post I will not be able to highlight and give a description to EVERY piece of symbolism masterfully integrated by Gambino but I will mention a few thoughts about what I have learned from the video.

Think for Yourself

I LOVE the fact that Gambino hasn't given a public explanation of his creation. He has forced America to do something that hasn't done in a long time....THINK. After getting in trouble, many parents instruct their children to sit and think about what they did to get into trouble so that it doesn't happen again. This is essentially what this video instructs us to do as a society. This is why there are so many interpretations on the symbolism and meaning of this video, Gambino wants us to think for ourselves. I was unaware of the 2015 Charleston shooting that left nine black church members dead and one injured, but thanks to this video I had to do my research to understand the meaning of the graphic scene that I viewed. I did this with a lot of other themes of the video. If I didn't know something, I researched it to understand.

Music & Dance

The tone of music and type of dancing were really key in this video. The video begins with a black man playing a soft and happy tune that is imitative of African melodies. Gambino can be seen in this shot, with his back turned at a distance. Gambino begins to move his body to the sounds of the guitar. I have read many reviews and interpretations of Gambino's presentation throughout the video. The consensus that I've seen and agree with is that Gambino is playing the role of a Jim Crow minstrel (if want to know more about this phenomenon click the link below):

Jump Jim Crow

Gambino is in the forefront of the video the entire time, often surrounded by young black children in school uniforms. Gambino and the kids are energetically performing several trending dances of popular and African culture. In my interpretation, trending dances like the ones in the video are put at the forefront of what we see due to going viral on social media and that makes others want to learn these dances so that they too can go viral. Going viral is a goal for many people...especially young people, but the reasons for going viral is just to follow the trend and not necessarily to make a difference in our world. I've read another interpretation (that's the beauty of my first point) where some believe that the kids in uniform represent the "clean cut side" of black people (my guess is to be better accepted by white culture) even though black culture is EVERYWHERE. The truth is black culture has saturated society. From music to dance moves, fashion, hair, and even body image black culture is seen, copied, envied, and used by the dominant culture/white America and no credit is given to black culture at all. These new trends such as conrows for example, being worn by white women such as Bo Derek and Kim Kardashian were deemed "hip" and "chic" however black men and women have been wearing cornrows for decades!! The problem here is not that white men and women are wearing braids, cornrows, and dreadlocks. The problem is white people plagiarizing ethnicity and not giving credit to the culture that these ideas originally came from. Not to mention the fact that for black people, our culture was often mocked in ways to make us ashamed of the very same things that other cultures have adopted (stolen) today. I've read other reviews where people feel as though some of Gambino's dance moves are paying homage to black music icons such as Michael Jackson and James Brown. Others think that he is making a mockery of the black culture hence the reference to Gambino playing the role of a minstrel. But what can't be denied here is that no matter what the take on dancing is, it functions as a distraction from real world problems!

Violence Is Cool Most of the Time

I find it interesting that some people find this video "so disturbing." Some people have advised not to let their children watch this video due to the violent content. I don't understand how a parent will not allow their children to watch this video but will allow them to play violent video games or watch violent movies and television shows. Video games where the goal is to shoot and kill others in urban settings, have sex with prostitutes, buy and sell drugs, and rob others. Movies where there is blood and guts all over the screen or people being shot and killed (or worse). Rap songs where all you hear is people threatening to do harm to others, get high on drugs, or wasted on alcohol. But when you hear news about a mass murder, like the Charleston shooting, or all of the black men and women shot and killed by police....we can't seem to accept violence then. As a nation we consume and accept violence everyday EXCEPT when it is a real account in the real world.

Running For Our Lives

Unlike his playful, expressive, cool presentation throughout majority of the video, Gambino later expresses something different. At the very end of the video, Gambino is for the first time showing an authentic emotion...fear. Gambino is shown running down a dark and creepy corridor in the warehouse where the entire video takes place. He is being chased by a group of white people. This represents what black people have been doing for hundreds of years...running for our lives. Even now with the unforgettable events involving police shootings, black people have been seen being brutalized and shot while running, sitting, standing...breathing. As a culture we remain alert and on guard because we just don't know. If we relax just a little bit, that might mean that we don't make it back home to our loved ones. It's just a shame that the brutality that killed Emmett Till and Rodney King are still happening to black people today in THE SAME WAYS. We have no choice but to keep running.

Handle with Care

Gun violence is clearly a problem in this video which on reflects how serious of a problem it is in our world today. In the two instances that Gambino uses a gun to kill someone, one of the kids (that is seen dancing behind Gambino earlier in the video) runs up with a red cloth. Gambino then places the guns on top of the cloth and the kid wraps each of the guns up and takes them away quickly. Now, while the guns are carried away with care, the bodies are left where they are or drug off the scene. This sends a strong yet sad message to us as a society: This is America...where guns are handled with more can than human lives.

Thank you Donald for using your platform in the way that all celebrities should use their platforms and power of influence. You're not looking for fame or recognition of this work but you've earned it. Thank you for keeping us "woke" and not letting us forget that names were never meant to be trending hashtags on Twitter. Since this video has been released there has been educational discourse surrounding the importance of this video. I've heard professors and teachers from all over the United States wanting to show this video in their classrooms and use it as academic resource through collegial online networks. I took a course this summer that had this video as one of the topics of discussion. You have impacted the world with this record breaking and history making video! You've shown the importance of taking ACTION and making people think! Again, I say...thank you.