Just when the fiery debates about gun violence seemed to die down, Childish Gambino came back to reignite the flame. At midnight on May 6, “This is America” was released on all platforms, with a music video dropping on Youtube at the same time. It was dropped while Gambino was simultaneously hosting and performing as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. The release shocked all Gambino fans, as he had been on a two year hiatus from music.

     The song is, as the title hints, a description of the current state of America – a gun-loving, capitalist community of people who love to dance and avoid responsibility.

     In no way should people diminish the larger than life issues the song and video address, but there is so much more to this package that hasn’t been talked about yet.

     So let’s start the conversation on what people seem to skip over — the artist himself. Childish Gambino, also known as Donald Glover, has been surprising the world with his music since 2008, when his first mixtape was released. Throughout his career, he’s rapped about African-American culture, race, sexuality, existentialism, and, more recently, gun violence.

     Time and time again, Glover chooses to speak up for a community that cannot. He demands that his voice is heard, and listened to. This is what needs to be addressed. Many celebrities have a charity that they support and post about on social media every once in a while. That’s fine, but Glover took it to another level. He created a masterpiece that people will remember and share with others. He willingly used his platform to raise awareness on an important topic in our society. He saw an opportunity to advocate for victims of gun violence and he jumped at it. What people also fail to realize is just how much Glover put into this song and music video.

     The video begins with a guitar player sitting in a chair in am empty warehouse. While he starts busting out the beginning chords, the camera pans over to Childish Gambino. As the music picks up, Gambino begins dancing to the music in a light, playful way. But, just before the song bursts into a dark, trap sounding mob, Gambino pulls out a gun and shoots the guitar player. A man comes up to him to carefully take away the gun with a red cloth as the corpse is dragged away.

     The gun is treated with more care than a human body.

     After that, Gambino walks away and raps towards the camera. Soon after, a crew of students in uniforms join him in dancing. They continue this for the majority of the video, but what some failed to notice while watching the video was what was happening in the background.

     As Gambino and his crew were breaking it down, police officers were chasing down African-Americans, fires were blazing, people were falling from balconies, and mobs of people were running in every direction. This imagery screams Gambino’s message: a majority of Americans choose to ignore society’s issues by getting caught up in in the media.

     This message provides a new perspective on the gun violence, police brutality, and racism debates. Glover makes a point to expose how everyone seems to forget what’s actually going on – he uses popular dances and describes how we use our cell phones as tools to distract ourselves from the extensive issues our society is dealing with.

     Since the government hasn’t paid any attention to the fearful cries for stricter gun laws, Glover took it upon himself to make those cries a roar. It was something that needed to be done. Without “This is America,” the gun violence flame would have burned into ashes. Now, the ball is in our court.