Movie: American Blackout
Summary: Whatever you think you know about our election systems or Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, this film will make you question further why the news media fails to accurately inform the public. Directed by GNN’s Ian Inaba, creator of Eminem’s “Mosh” music video, American Blackout critically examines the contemporary tactics used to control our democratic process and silence voices of political dissent.
Many have heard of the alleged voting irregularities that occurred during the presidential elections of 2000 and 2004. Until now, these incidents have gone under- reported and are commonly written-off as insignificant rumors or unintentional mishaps resulting from an overburdened election system.
American Blackout chronicles the recurring patterns of voter disenfranchisement from Florida 2000 to Ohio 2004 while following the story of Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. Mckinney not only took an active role investigating these election debacles, but has found herself in the middle of her own after publicly questioning the Bush Administration about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Featuring: Congressional members John Conyers, John Lewis, Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, Bernie Sanders and jounalists Greg Palast and Bob Fitrakis.
My Thoughts: I’d heard only some of the details about the election issues in 2000 and 2004. I never read about them in depth, there never seemed to be a need – the basics seemed enough to make me disgusted with the entire process. I learned more listening to some of Greg Palast’s stuff, and that gave me greater insight, but watching American Blackout made me want to cry.
What have we done to our country if we let things like this not only go on, but stifle even the questioning of what happened? How is it that we have allowed the illegal disenfranchisement of so many of our voters?
The media is guilty as well. When Cynthia McKinney asked the hard questions, she was completely misrepresented by having parts of a phone interview chopped to make her sound like an illogical conspiracy theorist. This was done “creatively”, or maliciously, by the reporters writing their stories. Or maybe by their editors. In either case, it is clear that the media failed in their job, if their job is to report clear facts.
I expect politics to be dirty on some level. I also expect reporters to hold truth to a high standard. One of the aspects of of this documentary that I found most disturbing is the amount of collusion that is outlined by some of these actions. The planning required by the State of Florida in “scrubbing” the voter lists, knowing and confirming that they wanted to err on the side of false positives!
The right to vote is one of the most basic rights we should be able to count on in a democracy.
I no longer feel confident that I can count on that right. Yet I know I should vote, no matter how little I trust that it will be counted. As Greg Palast has said, if they’re going to steal our votes, let’s make them. Let’s make them put the effort into stealing it. Let’s get twice as many new voters out there as the number of votes they have stolen in the last two elections.
