RCL BLOG #3: Speech Outline

1. Race/Racial Tensions

2. Gun Violence

3. America has become too distracted to deal with the real issues it faces

Gambino’s Look

1. Confederate pants

2. Just pants and no shirt to keep the tone casual even though the music video is addressing very heavy and controversial themes

3. Shows he is just a regular black man in America

   1. He does not try to show off his wealth, success, stardom, etc in the video through his physical appearance

1. A man is strumming a guitar alone, when he is tied up with a head covering and then Childish Gambino shoots him in the head, after this moment, the song starts quickly

   1. Happy music → Gunshot → Rap style music begins with the line “This is America”

The presence of school children throughout the video

1. There were kids dancing with Gambino throughout the video, they were the focus, but in the background there was violence and police

   1. Conveys how in America, many black children’s innocence is stolen as they are subjected to the violence of the areas that they grow up in

Shooting of the happy and singing choir mid video

1. Mid-Video, a black choir is singing and the overall feeling is happy, and then Gambino grabs a gun (semi-automatic rifle) and shoots the entire choir

   1. This is alluding to the Dylann Roof shooting where 9 black people were killed in a church basement

      1. Referencing back to the main idea of gun violence and also racial tensions as Roof is a white supremacist

1. Example of Roof shooting because it was a literal thing that happened and drives the point of gun violence and racial tensions to the forefront of the viewers mind

   1. Point out how he uses historical events to emphasize his point

2. The Confederate pants Gambino wears

   1. Another historical nod

1. Most present in this music video and within lyrics

   1. Examples in Lyrics

      1. “You just a Black man in this world, You just a barcode, ayy”

         1. Evokes emotion from the watcher of the video in whether this is true in their experience or if they sympathize with it

            1. Racial tensions theme

      2. “Police be trippin’ now, Yeah, this is America , Guns in my area (word, my area), I got the strap, I gotta carry ’em”

         1. Expresses that because this is America, guns are everywhere and you have to have a gun to protect yourself because gun violence is so likely

         2. Critical of the police 

            1. Reference to police brutality within black communities

1. Gambino is able to convey and explain the struggles of growing up black in America because he did

   1. His credibility

      1. Grew up in a white suburb of Atlanta and was one of the only African American families in the area

      2. Parents were both Jehovah’s Witnesses

         1. Religious mentions in the video

Video was released May 5, 2018

1. On this specific day, Joe Biden talked to the media about his visit with John McCain, who was battling brain cancer

   1. McCain said he was concerned for the state of the country and talked about the need for people to stand up and speak out

      1. Childish Gambino did exactly that in his music video

2. Need more examples of what happened in May 2018*** Add for actual speech