From SUNDANCE 2006:
http://festival.sundance.org/filmguide/popup.aspx?film=6675Ian Inaba's American Blackout is a stylish, intelligent, and provocative documentary that looks at the
historic and systematic disenfranchisement of the black vote through the lens of the political career of Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-Georgia). George W. Bush's narrow victory in 2000 launched an historic investigation into Florida's election process. Public focus was on dysfunctional ballots and the Supreme Court litigation, but
Inaba's inquiry leads him to Congresswoman McKinney, who investigated the private company hired by the state of Florida to generate voter lists, which effectively shut out the black vote and handed Bush an unlikely victory. While tracking McKinney's career, Inaba reveals a host of ways in which black political power is systematically squelched, ranging from the slander that assailed McKinney when she stood up to the Bush administration on 9/11 and Iraq, to the political machinations that disempowered the black vote in the Georgia Democratic primaries and the Ohio presidential election in 2004. Inaba reminds us that African rages on today.
American Blackout emotionally revitalizes the core of our power as American citizens–the right to vote–and effectively reveals that the fate of black voters is inextricably tied to the fate of all Americans.— Shari Frilot
Those of us in the movement to stop election fraud must always remember that we are a fragment, tiny now but growing, of a much larger and longer mass movement to enfranchise voters: women, minorities. Black Americans have been and continue to be the target. It's vital to keep the franchise narrow or the Republicans will be swept away: voter registration scams ("special" Voter IDs, "spoiled ballots," lousy equipment, changed precinct locations, literacy tests, etc.).
I can't wait. Thank you so much.
K&R
From
"Scoop" Independent News: "DEMOCRAT HACKETT LOSES A SQUEAKER IN OHIO’S 2nd CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: THE NEW VOTING RIGHTS STRUGGLE 2004-2005
by Michael Collins/autorank (permission to quote extensively granted by the author, me)
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0508/S00186.htm
The Selma, Alabama Voting Rights March, 1965. Approaching the William J. Pettis Bridge.The old and new voting right struggles merge.Many marchers also knew that they are involved in a new voting rights struggle, one that involves blacks, whites, and any citizen voting for Democratic candidates. The struggle came into clear focus in Florida 2000 but in truth has been carried forth ever since the full implementation of the Voting Rights Act. While the act pushed forward the voting franchise to all Americans regardless of race, it was not able to ensure that all votes would be counted, particularly in predominantly black precincts, due to “spoilage” – ballots that are not marked clearly enough to be counted. A Washington Post study (12/3/04) after Florida 2000 showed that spoilage occurred at exceptionally high rates in precincts with greater than 70% black population. The total spoiled votes in just black precincts in Florida 2000 would have given Gore a comfortable victory margin without any reference to “hanging chads” and “butterfly ballots,” under the reasonable assumption that most of the discarded ballots were marked for Gore.
Florida 2000 also introduced a new level of state intervention to impede voting rights. The famous Florida “felon purge” effort was initiated by Governor Jeb Bush and his then Secretary of State and Florida Bush Presidential Campaign Chairman Katherine Harris. This purge, conducted with ChoicePoint software, resulted in the disenfranchisement of at least 50,000 black Floridians who were legitimately eligible to vote. This marked the beginning of the new voting rights struggle, combining the elements of bias by highly political secretaries of state, computer systems and software to handle registration and voting lists, and voting machines for casting and tabulating ballots. By 2006, 80% of the votes in the United States will be counted by just two firms, Diebold and ES&S, both with executives who endorse extreme right right-wing positions.
Ohio’s 2004 Presidential election represented the latest phase of the voting rights struggle, combining both racial discrimination and the new voting rights issue, the possibility of election fraud through the manipulation of voting and tabulation machines and software, as well as partisan access to communication systems for reporting tallies to central processors.
<snip>
Voting rights and the fight against election fraud are now a national issue involving all races.The accuracy of the 2nd District special election will not be known for some time, if it is ever fully investigated. Ohio’s 2004 Presidential recount and the State of Ohio’s effort to block access to public records which might lead to the discovery of fraud do not offer much hope. However, it is vital to note that this election was very close and lost at the very last minute. It was run in a district that is almost entirely white and, by history, Republican. And it ended with another election oddity so common since 2000, the Republican “last minute surge” from behind to win it in a squeaker. Now all parties are involved. It is no longer dumping minority ballots through “spoilage” in areas rarely covered by the media. It is no longer voter suppression in liberal urban centers with large black populations. Voting rights and the investigation of election fraud should now be centered on the loss of a very close election; in a heavily white and Republican district; amidst questionable activities by election officials; and, in an area known for these questionable activities just nine months earlier.
We all have an interest in making every election fully transparent and verifiable. We all have an interest in the ability to fully investigate suspected election fraud without being marginalized by the corporate media and secure comfortable national politicians of both parties. We all have a right to vote and have our vote counted accurately.
END
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