This… is America
Race and ethnicity are undeniable aspects of life that have had an effect on people in America since before the creation of the United States. Throughout history, race and ethnicity have been cause for repeated controversies, leading to seemingly more intense violence today in the 21st century. Ideals of hatred regarding one’s ethnic background seem to always have remained within the population of the United States, but are they Discrimination towards racial and ethnic minorities, specifically African-Americans, is re-emerging despite the exposure towards these issues from public icons on media outlets and the entertainment industry such as music, television, athletes, and celebrities.
Colin Kaepernick, the former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, started a movement that swept the nation by protesting against racial injustices such as police brutality when he knelt during the United States national anthem in 2016. His movement gathered attention, and since then, other players have followed and the movement has gained a massive amount of support from people all over the United States. Kaepernick explained his reasons for his actions by saying “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of colour. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way,” (Kaepernick). Kaepernick would like people to believe that his movement isn’t a stand against American nationalism, but a stand for America- his views his standing up for police brutality and minority discrimination as a method of spreading awareness.
In September of 2018, Nike released a commercial starring Colin Kaepernick, in which he narrates clips of athletes that faced some type of obstacle that hindered their path to greatness and speaks of sacrifice and doing things bigger than yourself- such as their minority status or a physical disability. Kaepernick says, “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything,” (Kaepernick). Here, he is referring to how his activism led to the destruction of his career but it being worthwhile if he made a difference in what he believed in. Nike’s advertising doesn’t explicitly tell audiences to stop minority discrimination, rather, it illustrates discrimination as an obstacle people face as they strive for success. Nike’s examples of well-known people that are discriminated against in the United States, such as Serena Williams, “a girl from Compton” who became “the greatest athlete ever”, demonstrate Nike’s acknowledgement of the worsening racial tensions in America.
In addition, some music icons are actively taking part in the movement of spreading awareness of minority discrimination and social injustices. Some examples are Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé, SZA, and Donald Glover. Glover, who is also known as Childish Gambino, is a comedian, actor, singer, writer, producer, director, rapper, and social activist. In 2018, Donald Glover released a song called “This is America”. The song is a commentary regarding current issues with lyrics about gun violence and race issues and is also a protest song that calls out America for preferring to ignore both issues. Donald Glover released a music video along with the song that goes deeper into the issues outlined by the song through specific symbols and actions.
In the music video, it is made clear that one of the main ideas of the song is social distractions to avoid facing serious problems. A line from the song, for example, demonstrates a distraction from imminent problems, “hunnid bands, hunnid bands, hunnid bands, contraband, contraband, contraband” (Glover). With this line, Glover exposes current hip hop artists whose songs deliver messages of drugs, money, and chasing success that doesn’t matter as a distraction from real oppression and violence happening throughout the United States. Another example is when Glover and a group of school kids perform dance choreography sewn together from across the black diaspora, ranging from Gwara Gwara from South Africa to the “Shoot” dance created by BlocBoy JB just last year. (Parham). The dancing serves to distract from what is occurring in the background, which has burning cars, bodies dropping dead, and chaotic crowds. These two things are happening at the same time throughout the video, and it accurately illustrates how our society is today. Many people are being discriminated against and even dying due to racism, yet the media and entertainment industry distract the population with trivial things like dances, as shown in the video, and celebrity stories.
The Nike advertisement expanded my understanding of this part of the song by serving the same purpose as the song in a different manner. In the song, the media’s purpose is to blind from social justice and conversely, the advertisement is a form of media that is used to bring light to issues using entertainment. However, they both acknowledge the media as a point of reference to demonstrate how to overcome the media’s attention on superficial ideas. In the advertisement, Lebron James is portrayed as not only the best basketball player in the world, but as a leader for change because of his work to help underprivileged children in America with the opening of his “I Promise” school in Ohio. The Nike advertisement rendering an entertainment figure as a social justice leader is what Donald Glover is trying to get people in positions of social influence to do through his message in the song. This idea from the advertisement adds a new understanding to the topic of media distracting from issues in the United States as it was shown in “This is America”.
The music video also explores the desensitization of the population to traumatic events. Over the recent years, the United States has had so many hate crimes that the general population has just gotten used to it and most people just accept as a part of daily life now. This is shown multiple times in the music video. For example, when Glover is given an assault rifle and shoots down the church choir and then starts singing and dancing right away. This is referencing the Charleston Church shooting in South Carolina when a white supremacist murdered nine African American people during a prayer service. To think that something like this can happen and people just continue on with their lives like nothing happened is crazy. How has it gotten so bad that a mass shooting is an everyday occurance now? The United States has had 307 mass shootings over 311 days just this year. (McCoy and Miller). Many of these shootings had a hate crime related motivation behind them, directed towards minorities in the US. Another example of desensitization in the music video is when Glover does a Jim Crow pose and shoots an African American man with a bag over his head playing the guitar. This is the beginning of the song, so it sets the tone for the whole song when he shoots him and says “This is America” right after.
The current racial and ethnic discrimination toward minorities is horrible in the United States and it more important than ever to increase awareness about these problems rather than ignore them or be distracted. We need to focus on what is important for the future of the United States and approach the situation by doing what is best for everyone. This is a problem that needs to be dealt with now so that hate crimes and preventable tragedies can be stopped. “This is America” by Donald Glover and the Nike advertisement explore these issues, but we are the ones that need to take action to have our country be what we want it to be and not in the control of racism and hate. The examples of racial discrimination and hate crimes in “This is America” and the use of people belonging to minority groups facing discrimination in the Nike advertisement demonstrate the increase and worsening of discrimination in America.
Imagine a country where an advertisement for a clothing company is more controversial than continuous mass shootings and discrimination. This is America. We can change this, however, and have our country be in our own image with our collectively desired values through social justice and activism. This is also America.
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Works Cited
Glover, Donald. “This is America.” This is America, RCA Records, 2018, track 1.
Miller, Susan, and Kevin McCoy. “Thousand Oaks Makes 307 Mass Shootings in 311 Days.”
USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 9 Nov. 2018,
Parham, Jason. “Childish Gambino’s ‘This Is America’ and the New Shape of Protest Music.”
Wired, Conde Nast, 9 May 2018.
Yates, Clinton. “Childish Gambino’s ‘This Is America’ Video Is a Beautiful Nightmare.” The
Undefeated, The Undefeated, 8 May 2018.