Issues with the American Dream and American Identity

The message Childish Gambino is saying in ‘’This Is America’’ makes us say that we’ve made progress in fighting racism, gun violence, and oppression. But in reality there is still hatred in this world with no progress.Childish Gambino is saying by the Black America he speaks are concerns of place and importance, beauty and ugliness, joy and violence, and other bad experiences they face. In the poem “immigrants in our land” it talks about how his dreams were being taken when he was in prison. And about how the separation of races and how they were told it is better that way. This connects to this because Childish Gambino is showing how African Americans are being treated poorly and this problem goes way back to this present day. He is showing how everything bad always happens to African Americans and never whites. It’s the ideals of white supremacy intruding on the life of black people.

In the video you could see how in the background you saw chaos and are scenes that weren’t pointed out because of the distraction of Childish and his dancing. In the poem “America” by Maya Angelou she talks about how the fact that justice is for some, not all. She addresses the fact that this is a country which is abundant in resources yet these abundant resources of opportunity have not been offered to all. Our country has also never acknowledged the error of our ways. The people we have hurt, and destroyed such as African Americans. Instead with give those in poverty minimal assistance to sustain and oppresses instead of aid to progress. Now this ties to “This is America” because you could see how in the video he is bringing up past events that had happened to African American people and how they are being killed and not taken accounted for. These both connect to each other because Maya Angelou is trying to prove a point in where we live in a world where it is cruel and not fair to people of color and white people get all the resources no one else gets.

In the “Revolutionary Dream” Nikki is of a black woman who wants to erase america of the hatred and wrong it has done to the black people. she wants to use her perceptive powers to stop riots and bring peace.
But then she realizes that being a normal average woman it’s not much she could do but revolutionize her own life by doing what an average woman can do. she alone cannot bring about a revolution. This relates to “This is America” because he is trying to show us that even though he isn’t a woman he wants us to realize and understand what we came to be. I feel like Childish Gambino is giving us a message to open our eyes and realize that what has been happening in the past is still happening today with all the racism and hatred we still give to those of color. He wants to show us that one si glue person can’t change what’s been happening we need to bring the whole community and try to resolve them together not alone because if we try to do it alone it wouldn’t be as easy.

In the poem “In The Good Old U.S.A” José Ángel feels like Feels that his heritage is looked down upon in American. His culture is suppressed and he faces discrimination from (Girlfriend’s father, Teachers). He looks Afro-Puerto Rican. Now this relates to the American identity because it’s talking about how he was being mistreated because he looked “black” and everytime someone looks black or looks of color they automatically think they’re black. He had to learn that people weren’t going to like him and be racist towards him. He would try to change and look like the rest so he could fit in the category of how the others looked like. This connects to “This Is America” because in the video it is showing how white people can get away with anything and don’t get in trouble for it. It shows how their isn’t as much respect for the ones of color. This is saying that the American Dream is not being color. It’s being white. Being able to not live in a world where there is good things happening but rather bad things.

In the poem “Brent Staples just walk on by:Black Men and Public Space” Brent Staples discovered such prejudice toward black men for merely being present in public. He wrote about describing how he could not even walk down the street normally, people, especially women, would stray away from him out of terror. He demonstrates his understanding of this fearful discrimination. This connects to what Childish Gambino is trying to point out because his music and video was based on African Americans. They are the people who are ones who are always being targeted just because people think they are dangerous and they think that they are really worth nothing as a person.

What Childish Gambino was trying to say about the American Dream and American Identity is that everyone has to be a certain way or act a certain way to be respected. You have to be white and act like everyone else so you could fit in.