Intersectionality of Arts and Activism

As the decades, centuries, and millennia have gone by, art has evolved to encompass a variety of mediums, including music, visual art, films, and more. But it has remained constant in its crucial role in providing creative interpretations of pain and struggle during periods of strife, whether it be personal, political, social, economic, or otherwise.

The time period during which we live is, arguably, one of the most turbulent ones history has ever seen, especially in America. One of the few benefits resulting from that is the outpouring of beautiful art— specifically, music— borne from the backs of the people who have suffered most from the sting of oppression. In recent years, impeccably innovative classics like Solange’s A Seat At the Table, Beyoncé’s Lemonade, Kendrick Lamar’s entire discography, and more recently, Childish Gambino’s single “This is America” have illustrated the power of artists to initiate political and social change, as well as the power of words, melodies, and in Beyonce and Gambino’s case, visuals, on shifting popular consciousness.

Though songs and albums can be great simply because of their musical composition, meaningful lyrics and embedded messages can help them cross the boundary between “good” and “great.” Not every great song is politically conscious, but those that are have an astounding ability to influence listeners and bring typically underrepresented issues to the mainstream view.

Childish Gambino’s newest single and accompanying video, “This is America,” is perhaps the most radical work of mainstream art that pop culture has witnessed thus far in 2018. The video features Gambino playing the role of all of the versions of a black man that different demographics in society see as being accurate: a caricature of Jim Crow at the beginning of the video, a jaded mumble-rapper towards the middle, a regular human being towards the end, and finally, a man on the run from a mob.

Sprinkled throughout the video are references to gun violence as well. About halfway through the video Gambino shoots up a church choir, symbolizing the Charleston Church Shooting of 2015; Gambino also shoots a black man with a bag over his head, which viewers have speculated is a reference to the lack of responsibility and remorse that those who kill black men feel, due to the dehumanization of the black man in the media. The constant thread and theme throughout the video and song is the idea that the art that black culture produces is taken and exploited by the dominant class. This art is then used as a distraction so that pressing issues, like gun violence and police brutality, that the black community face continue to be ignored by the vast majority of white people as well as the government.

Art has a uniquely influential effect on cultures and societies that can be seen throughout history. In the mid-19th century, Harriet Tubman used spirituals as a means to communicate with slaves and eventually to help free hundreds of them through the Underground Railroad. In the 1970s, hip hop was born from pioneers like Gil-Scott Heron, who often expressed discontent with societal inequality through their music.

Artists across several genres, like Gambino, are continuing this tradition with music that highlights the need for change. The newest wave of activists in art, comprised of people advocating for issues as specific as gun control to broader goals like equality for everyone, cannot be underestimated or ignored.