Hidden Meanings Behind Childish Gambino's 'This Is America' Video Explained

in the end they were out to get him because he stopped performing

He killed black men without being caught but when he smoked weed he had to run

I noticed how the two times that he actually had a gun he was able to gently place the gun down on the red cloth and walk away without anybody doing anything. BUT when the kids are dancing around him and he holds up his bare hands and pretends to be holding a gun, everybody gets scared and runs. Maybe that's a comment on how "we thought he had a gun" is a prevalent justification for the shooting of unarmed black boys.

He doesn’t need a Grammy. The song is better than a Grammy or any award. It’s real art.

This is what teachers mean when they say use evidence from the text

The guns are carried away carefully, and the bodies are dragged

The pose he took before shooting the guitarist 1:16 is straight from Jump Jim Crow 1838. The incorporation of historical references throughout the video is stunning!

Man, the symbolism in this vid is amazing. You could write a whole research assessment on this. The ending where it enters a dark opening reminds me of the door of no return that is in the slave castle/fortresses in Ghana and other west African coastal areas. The dark cemented area where he is running reminds me of the pitch black desolate tomb like spaces Africans were locked up in when they were captured by Europeans. It's pretty sickening. It leaves people of all backgrounds into tears when they take the tours. That pose Donald does with his arms out in front of him can mean so many things as well. Bondage, surrender, helpless, no voice, arrest, death, lynching, etc...Yeah, you won't see this on mainstream music video play, if they do that anymore.

you missed the 17 seconds of silence for the 17 fatalities from the parkland shooting

I like how as soon as you get comfortable with the soft parts and start to sway to the melody, he shoots a gun and snaps you out of it, almost, as if to remind you "hey don't get comfortable, stay alert, or you'll be next"

He says “1, 2, 3, get down!” towards the end which may be a double meaning. “Get down!” as in dancing, and “Get down!” as in gun violence.

I thought that the "this a celly, that a tool" line was referring to how cops are commonly mistaking items such as cellphones and other things as guns in lots of cases.

I thought “its a celly. That’s a tool” was when police mistake a phone for a gun

This video made me smart. The comments made me even smarter.

Here we are 5 to 6 years later and this still hits the same... All subliminal messages truly expose us Americans for who we are...

At the end he drops the entertainment and smokes a joint to relax, then everyone turns on him. We love you while we're being entertained, but as soon as the real you comes out and we see you are a flawed human, you're back on the menu.

"This is America , don't catch you slipping up " The simple lyrics and soft beat eventually make you relax until it's disrupted by loud gunfire that startles you and reminds you that in America you can't let your guard down . Brilliant

it’s actually kinda scary that america is like this....

"Many on Twitter have cited that America has a tendency to applaud for black culture while turning their backs on the issues we face." This is such a thought-provoking line. I wish more people would talk about this.

He is a genius for this song. It's very catchy but the symbolism is on point. He really should've gotten a Grammy for this song alone