The Dear White People creator, who is four months older than Glover, was blown away by Childish Gambino's "This Is America," which was released on the same weekend as the return of his Netflix series. "For the second time this year I’ve been shifted by Donald Glover’s work,” Simien said in the first of many tweets analyzing the viral music video. “He forced me to confront the effects of consumerism on the lives of people of color in Atlanta Robbin’ Season..and now I feel compelled to stare deeply into the dog and pony show of black popular culture through black culture with ‘This Is America.'" Simien proceeded to analyze the thought-provoking images from the music video. "But this is America, Gambino tells us," tweeted Simien. "It's brutal, but either you participate in the space American culture has allotted you (even if only to play Jim Crow as many black entertainers have and continue to do since the country's founding) or you perish."
ALSO:
TOPICS: Donald Glover, FX, Netflix, Atlanta, Dear White People, Hiro Murai, Justin Simien, African Americans and TV, Music Videos