village voice > film > Tracking Shots: 'American Blackout' by Melissa Levine

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Film

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Tracking Shots

'American Blackout'

by Melissa Levine

September 12th, 2006 12:00 AM

American Blackout
Directed by Ian Inaba
Opens September 22, Quad

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Runnin' Scared: The City Pitted Kids Against Artists in the East Village (6)
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Savage Love: My Boyfriend Almost Fathered a Lesbian Couple's Baby?!? (5)
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This passionate polemic follows Democratic representative Cynthia McKinney, of Georgia, as she campaigns to bring attention to the disenfranchisement of black voters in the 2000 and 2004 elections. The African American congresswoman provides excellent evidence for several claims. Among them: Y2K's infamous "felon" rolls, which prevented 90,000 blacks and Latinos from voting, were 97 percent incorrect; voting machines were removed from predominately black districts in Ohio in 2004. McKinney has an endearing compulsion to speak truth to power, and her questions about these issues and 9-11 have gotten her into trouble. The film doesn't quite refute all of the claims against the congresswoman; her 2002 primary opponent claims that McKinney received a spike in campaign contributions from Arab supporters on September 11, which the record appears to prove. But McKinney's basic truths remain convincing.

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