American Blackout (2006)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Ian Inaba

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

Your outrage is waiting.

Plot:

A look at the career of U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney from Georgia and the historical suppression of black voters in the United States.

Plot Keywords:

Voter | Election | Ohio | Democracy | Florida

Awards:

5 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Taalam Acey	...	Spoken Word Poet
Cynthia McKinney	...	Herself

Runtime:

USA:92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color | Black and White

Filming Locations:

Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Company:

Guerrilla News Network

Jim Crow in the third Millennium

This is a strong statement about the problems encountered during the last four national elections. It effectively addresses these by focusing on House Representative Cynthia McKinney's travails as she butts heads with the Powers That Be.

It's a strong message about voting and voting rights, showing how politics are always played with the electorate; this time it's the Republicans, but it's so true of either of the major parties. A significant point in Inaba's documentary is how NOT VOTING BENEFITS THE POWERS THAT BE. Irregularities in the last four elections are highlighted, with McKinney's in-out-and-back in journeys providing a focal point.

Some of the facts will only be known to political cogniscenti; people who worked the elections and saw first-hand how minority voters were effectively disenfranchised (often abetted by "minority" politicos who both made rulings on the elections and acted as party leaders in their own states (e.g. Harris in Florida and Blackwell in Ohio).

And aside from a short but interesting foreshadowing of McKinney's tendency to believe in her own self-importance and its subsequent (and recent) self-inflicted wounds from her own hubris, this movie still has relevance. It should show up again this fall before the 2006 elections, in primarily a grassroots mode. See it. Get upset. And then go out and help with the vote. And vote.