Thread by @ChesyaBurkePhD

#ThisisAmerica is "powerful and rewarding" for people who get off on violence against Black bodies. #PerpetualRewind

Look, #ThisisAmerica was....meh. It's what it is, no real subtlety. However, it's always great to watch white folx lose their shit when you point out their cultural pastimes. Still would much rather read and watch #janellemonae or #Bey's nuance.

Of course when you read about Glover's hating black women, fetishizing Asian women and his fondness for and defending of rape jokes, it's even less interesting. #ThisISAmerica #perpetualrewind

One of my issues, tho, is that it recreates black violence for those who love to watch it, while simultaneously harming those who suffer through endless loops of black death, without any real analysis. #ThisISAmerica #perpetualrewind

You think white folx don't know a church full of black folx were slaughtered? Their ancestors sat under trees of swinging dead, charred black bodies and feasted--with their children.

They know.

#ThisisAmerica #perpetualrewind

If the video is for black people as some have suggested, then the trauma is for what purpose? We already know what's happening in the streets, cause we live it every damn day. #ThisISAmerica #perpetualrewind

I understand Black suffering is the point of the video. But it's not unique, nor is the idea that it's become a commodity unique. #ThisISAmerica #perpetualrewind

And that Stepin Fetchit routine is minstrel and again evokes images of emotion from Blacks, while leaving whites relying on old sterotypes without any real engagment on their parts. #ThisisAmerica

Y'all a white dude on FB literally said that it gets "more powerful every time he watches it." They out here with it on #perpetualrewind like it's a fucking telanovela while we can barely get through once. Then they get to play #fakewoke. #ThisisAmerica

Black suffering has become entertainment and a commodity. Glover's message is basically "get your money," Black man by whatever means possible. Instead of providing imagery that shows that we must "earn our money" through white supremancy and give back. #ThisISAmerica

Ultimately, I think #ThisISAmerica is so meta it recreates the problem it claims to be addressing. While on #perpetualrewind for the world to constantly witness over and over the broken black bodies.

Look, I'm the Black woman who wrote this: apex-magazine.com/say-she-toy/. So, I know what it means to use violence to discuss social issues. Hell, folx may even accuse me of doing the same thing as Glover. But what good are images of violence with no discussion of future? #ThisIsAmerica

How do we engage with historical and current issues without simply offering white folx both a means to view our broken bodies as commodity and as suffer porn for them to alleviate guilt while not doing a single thing to dismantel white supremacy? #ThisIsAmerica

I've had different ppl tell me different things about #ThisIsAmerica. Some say it's for Blacks, some for whites.

1. Here you are Black folx. This is reality. You die. The end. = Trauma..
2. Here whites. Black bodies. Dead. Ugly but you can't stop watching. = Systemic. Next.