“This Is America” is dense with allusions to American history and pop culture. Natty Kasambala assembles a list of footnotes to the video, from its … It has everything to do with guns and gun violence in America. Then a man walks in and starts playing the guitar. The music video starts off with a guitar perched on a chair, which can be a possible reference to how music can take you on the journey. Each time Childish Gambino fires a gun in “This Is America,” he hands it off to someone who whisks it away in a red cloth. With “This Is America,” Gambino has sent an effervescent but underlying message. Viewers interpreted these scenes as a reference to Americans’ willingness to protect gun rights over people, despite the country’s alarmingly high rates of gun violence.