The best part about knowing American history is that no matter how depressed or angry you get at the system, you know somebody else has had it worse than you. Often it’s a group somebodys; for all the promise of equality, the United States has been equal parts dream and nightmare depending on who you are. This is especially true now in the Trumposphere of zero-sum; to Trump and Trumpistas, there is no winning unless somebody else loses. The United States didn’t used to see things this way … then again, the United States also used to have slaves, millions of them. To ignore this fact or downplay the effects of slavery is to be both American and an asshole which is how we get to today’s movie: All In: The Fight for Democracy.
This film is much more of a history lesson than a cinematic experience. Guided by our host, Stacey Abrams, we learn all sorts of awful things about American democracy that we pretty much already knew. This is like a starter kit for the history of American voter suppression. If you’ve paid attention to factual news during the past four years, there’s little in this film that will come as a surprise. After the end of the Civil War, African-American were free, of course, and the menfolk among them garnered the right to vote and hold office. And as soon as their former oppressors had the opportunity to take those rights away, they did by means both legal and illegal. The legacy of black voter suppression continues to this very day.
Stacey Abrams is a story in her own right. The overachieving would-be governor of Georgia ran in her state’s gubernatorial race of 2018 against Brian Kemp. It wasn’t a secret that Kemp was not a friend to voting rights. As Georgia Secretary of State, he got to decide exactly who got to vote in his election. Feel free to mock anyone who can’t see the problem. In the year before the Kemp-Abrams election, Kemp purged 700,000 people from the voting registry, some even legally. Again, feel free, nay please mock anybody who fails to see the problem. It’s ok, there were only a few thousand (or more) who were purged by accident, including, it seems, Abrams herself.
This is a good starter film for exploring American voting issues, especially ones that break along racial lines. It’s important that all Americans have a basic understanding of how getting and preserving the vote are two very different things in this country. At one point in the KKK-flourishing 1920s of Mississippi, only 3% of black people were voting in elections. Why? I’ll give you a hint: it wasn’t for lack of desire.
In some ways, we Americans have metaphorically traveled a long distance…and in some ways, we barely made it to the front door. Generations ago, slavery was extinguished and former slaves were given the right to vote (only MALE former slaves, mind you) and yet a significant portion of the populace continues to attack voting rights for certain groups. Poll tax, literacy tests, or flat-out intimidation have been the favorite tools. Sometimes the attack has always been disguised as something higher to allow for the pretense of reasonability, like “Voter Fraud,” the form it has taken today. Genuine voter fraud affects a miniscule percentage of votes. Like well below 1% of 1%. Feel free to look that up. You’re likelier to encounter someone a random who has been hit by lightning than
has been part of voter fraud. And guess who the laws to fight voter fraud are most likely to disenfranchise? Oh, you’ll never get this. I just know I’ve stumped you, haven’t I? Turns out, it’s black people! Who knew?
And yet, of course, the genius of “voter fraud protection” is that it wears just enough of a face of innocence that people get fooled by intention. I know some folks who get pretty aggressive when called “racist” and yet fully believe that voter fraud laws are a necessary prong of democracy. You know what is a true necessary prong of democracy? Voter participation. The fewer people who vote in an election, the more you have an oligarchy. For Republicans, this is, of course, the goal.
Sadly, All In: The Fight for Democracy is one of those films whose target audience is the one least likely to see it. Stacey Abrams did not win her big election, of course, hence if you know her name or what she looks like, you were probably already sympathetic to her cause. Oh yes, I fully believe more eligible and active Georgia voters wanted her to be governor than Brian Kemp and would have proved it if allowed to do so. Hence the people who need to see this documentary are the ones who didn’t give a lick that the election was slanted. Try telling a white Georgia Brian Kemp voter that they should be more aware of the ways our democracy has been hijacked and see what kind of response you get.
Decades to get democracy right
And yet always an imbalanced plight
The America we’ve seen
Is like a ghost on Halloween
It only works if you’re white
Rated PG-13, 102 Minutes
Director: Lisa Cortes, Liz Garbus
Writer: Jack Youngelson
Genre: Movies out to depress their viewers
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: History hounds
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Racists
