BY JULYSSA MENDIOLA

On May 6th, Donald Glover, also known as Childish Gambino, hosted Saturday Night Live and was also the special music guest. Gambino took this opportunity to debut one of his last singles This Is America because he will soon be retiring his Childish Gambino alter-ego.

This song features the artists Young Thug, 21 Savage, Quavo, Slim Jxmmi and Blocboy JB. A music video was also released for this song the same night and quickly gained attention all throughout media due to Gambino addressing many controversial topics in America and in pop culture through the symbolism from this video.

In the video, Gambino calls attention to issues addressing gun violence, police brutality, pop culture and racism. In the video Gambino addresses gun violence by beginning the video with shooting an anonymous person in the head and after the gun is carefully carried away with a red cloth and the body of the person is violently dragged off. Later in the video, Gambino also guns down a full choir in the video and the gun is again carried off in the same way. This is to represent that in America, guns are valued more over a human life. The shooting down of the choir is to allude to the Charleston Church shooting and the children dancing around him are in school uniforms to represent the recent school shooting in Florida and all school shootings in general. These dancers are also used to demonstrate the unawareness in society because as the viewer is watching, they are focused on the dancers and do not acknowledge the chaos occurring in the background. People are being chased by police and being killed and are also being thrown off balconies. Gambino also models actions and poses a reference to the Jim Crow painting. The Jim Crow Laws came into play in the 1870’s and they enforced racial segregation against black people.

Gambino is a genius and This Is America is a wonderful masterpiece. There is so much symbolism and this work demands to be watched more than once because each time you watch it, you notice something new. It is amazing that Gambino knows how much of an impact he has with his art and is using it to not only entertain, but to educate as well. This work of art contains beautiful cinematography and imagery and really calls attention to the important issues in America that society refuses to acknowledge.

“No. I feel like it’s not really my place to do that. It’s out there. It’s for the people,” Gambino said when asked to explain the references in the video.