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"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.

1 hour, 29 minutes


View the Film's official website at http://www.americanblackout.com/

This film may be rented online from Netflix

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Biography of Cynthia McKinney

The following information is partially taken from Cynthia McKinney’s Wikipedia Page.

"McKinney was born in Atlanta, the daughter of Billy McKinney, one of Atlanta’s first African-American law enforcement officers and a former Georgia State Representative, and Leola McKinney, a retired nurse. She currently lives in the Atlanta suburb of Stone Mountain. She is a Roman Catholic, one of the few members of that faith to have electoral success in heavily Protestant Georgia."

"She earned a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California, a Masters of Art in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and she is expected to complete a Ph.D. at University of California, Berkeley."

"Her political career began in 1986 when her father, Billy McKinney, a representative in the Georgia House of Representatives, submitted his daughter’s name as a write-in candidate for the Georgia state house. She received about 40 percent of the popular vote despite the fact that she lived in Jamaica at the time with then-husband Coy Grandison (with whom she had a son, Coy McKinney, now age 20). In 1988, McKinney ran for the same seat and won, making the McKinneys the first father and daughter to simultaneously serve in the Georgia state house."

"McKinney immediately challenged House rules requiring women to wear dresses by wearing slacks. In 1991, she spoke out against the Persian Gulf War, causing many legislators to walk out in protest at her remarks."

"In the 1992 election, McKinney was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as the member of Congress from the newly-created 11th District, a 64 percent black-majority district stretching from Atlanta to Savannah. She was the first African-American woman to represent Georgia in the House. She was handily reelected in 1994."

"In 1995 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Miller v. Johnson that the 11th district was an unconstitutional gerrymander because the boundaries were racially discriminatory. McKinney’s district was subsequently renumbered the 4th and redrawn to take in almost all of DeKalb County, prompting a response of outrage from McKinney. She asserted that it was a racially-discriminatory ruling, given the fact that the Supreme Court had previously ruled that Texas’s 6th district, which is 91 percent white, was constitutional."

"The new 4th, however, was no less Democratic than the 11th, and McKinney was reelected from this district in 1996, 1998 and 2000 with no substantive opposition. McKinney lost her seat in 2002 after losing the primary election (details below). She regained her seat in 2004, when it was open due to Denise Majette’s run for U.S. Senate. In 2006, she was opposed in the Democratic primary by Hank Johnson and John Coyne III. She led the July 18 primary, with Johnson coming in second, but the race continued to an August 8 runoff, because no candidate received 50 percent of the votes cast. McKinney lost the primary election runoff 59 percent to 41 percent to Johnson on August 8, 2006: Hank Johnson 41,178 59% Cynthia McKinney 28,832 41%."


911 Commission and Goverment Secrecy Issues

"In a 2002 interview on Pacifica Radio McKinney questioned the Bush administration’s possible prior knowledge of the September 11, 2001 attacks:"

"These remarks provoked criticism, and many Democrats distanced themselves from McKinney’s statements. On April 12, 2002, McKinney issued a statement saying that “I am not aware of any evidence showing that President Bush or members of his administration have personally profited from the attacks of 9-11. A complete investigation might reveal this to be the case.”

“Initially, McKinney kept a low profile upon her return to Congress. However, on July 22, 2005, the first anniversary of the release of the 9/11 Commission Report, McKinney held a well-attended congressional briefing on Capitol Hill to address outstanding issues regarding the September 11, 2001, attacks. The day-long briefing featured family members of victims, scholars, former intelligence officers and others who critiqued the 9/11 Commission account of 9/11 and its recommendations. The four morning panels purported to address flaws, omissions, and the lack of historical and political analysis in the commission’s report. Three afternoon panels critiqued the commission’s recommendations in the areas of foreign and domestic policy, and intelligence reform. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial maintained that the purpose of the event was to discuss whether or not the Bush administration was involved in the 9/11 attacks, expressing surprise that McKinney was once again taking on the issue which was widely believed to have been the one that cost her House seat. The Journal-Constitution refused to publish McKinney’s reply.”

“McKinney’s interest in 9/11 relates specifically to what she expresses as her opposition to excessive government secrecy. She has submitted to Congress two versions of the same bill, the 'MLK Records Act' (one in 2003, the other in 2005,) which, if signed into law, would release all currently sealed files concerning the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.. These records were sealed in 1978 and are not due to be declassified until the year 2028. Likewise, the 9/11 Commission has sealed all the notes and transcripts of some 2,000 interviews, all the forensic evidence, and both classified and non-classified documents used in compiling its final report until January, 2009. Documents relating to the death of rapper Tupac Shakur, which McKinney has taken an active interest in, would be released under another bill introduced by Rep. McKinney. In a statement, McKinney explained her reason for the bill: 'The public has the right to know because he was a well-known figure. There is intense public interest in the life and death of Tupac Shakur...'"


Anti-war, Human Rights, Impeachment Efforts

“Until 2000, McKinney served on the House International Relations Committee, where she was the highest-ranking Democrat on the Human Rights Subcommittee. McKinney felt that it was important that US policy reflect a deep respect for human rights, so she worked on legislation to stop conventional weapons transfers to governments which are undemocratic or fail to respect human rights...”

“On November 18, 2005, McKinney was one of only 3 (out of 406) to vote for H.R. 571, introduced by House Armed Services Committee chairman Duncan Hunter, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, on which McKinney sits. Hunter, a Republican, offered this resolution calling for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces in Iraq in place of John Murtha’s H.J.Res. 73, which called for redeployment 'at the earliest possible date...'"

“McKinney hosted the first delegation of Afro-Latinos from Central and South America and worked with the World Bank and the U.S. State Department to recognize Afro-Latinos. She stood with Aboriginals against Australian mining companies; and with the U’wa people of Colombia in their fight to save their sacred land from oil rigs.”

“Rep. McKinney is a co-sponsor of Rep. John Conyers’s H.R. 635, which would create a Select Committee to look into potential grounds for the impeachment of President Bush. On January 20th, 2006, she also signed a statement by the group The World Can’t Wait called Drive Out the Bush Regime. On December 9th McKinney submitted legislation before Congress for the Impeachment of President Bush."


Hurricane Katrina

"McKinney has been an advocate for victims of Hurricane Katrina and a critic of the government’s response."

“Despite the Democratic Party leadership’s call for a boycott, McKinney was an active participant in the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina. She sat as a guest along with only a few other Democrats. In questioning Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, McKinney referred to a news story in which the owners of a nursing home were charged with negligent homicide for abandoning 34 clients who died in the flood waters. McKinney asked Chertoff: 'Mr. Secretary, if the nursing home owners are arrested for negligent homicide, why shouldn’t you also be arrested for negligent homicide?'"


The "Capitol Police Incident"

“On the morning of March 29, 2006, McKinney entered the Longworth House Office Building’s southeast entrance and proceeded past the check point, walking around the metal detector. Members of Congress have identifying lapel pins and are not required to pass through metal detectors. The officers present failed to recognize her as a Member of Congress because she was not wearing the appropriate identification. She proceeded westward down the ground floor hallway, and about half way down the hallway was grabbed by United States Capitol Police officer Paul McKenna, who states that he had been calling after her 'Ma’am, Ma’am!' McKinney responded by hitting the police officer.”

“McKinney was criticized in the media for failing to wear her pin on the morning of March 29, 2006, with critics charging that her failure to do so led to the confrontation. Many other Members do not wear the pin, even after the whole McKinney-McKenna affair...”

“McKinney admitted that she was not wearing her pin that morning, but opined that the police responsible for protecting lawmakers should recognize the 435 members of Congress on sight and claimed to have shown her Congressional identification badge.”

“.. McKinney garnered little support even among fellow Democrats. Not one Congressional Democrat chose to join her at a news conference to discuss the situation at Howard University... Initially stating on March 31st that 'wouldn’t make a big deal' out of the incident, Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal.) later said on April 5 that she found 'it hard to see any set of facts that would justify striking a police officer,' and McKinney’s fellow Georgia Democrat, Rep. John Lewis, told McKinney that 'she needs to lower the temperature and stop holding press conferences.' Outside of Capitol Hill, the Sarasota Democratic Party withdrew from a rally at which McKinney was due to speak.”

“Within a few days of the first reports, McKinney had been variously described as a 'crazy bitch', 'race baiter', 'freak', etc. Some columns even went so far as to analyze her hairstyle in a negative light and question the quick participation of Harry Belafonte, who is generally regarded as a political polarizing agent and also the recipient of frequent negative commentary due to his public statements.”

"She has repeatedly stressed that in her view the incident arose from the police failure to recognize her face, suggesting that in her view the above-mentioned pattern of incidents in which Capitol Police failed to recognize her as a Member of Congress had to do with a general tendency by police in the United States to engage in racial profiling of blacks, where blacks are stereotyped as more likely to commit crime than other groups in society, and therefore tend to handle blacks more roughly."

“On April 6, 2006, after the grand jury was convened to investigate, the Associated Press reported that McKinney had expressed 'sincere regret' for the altercation and offered an apology to the House. ‘There should not have been any physical contact in this incident’..”


The 2002 Primary

"In 2002, McKinney was defeated in the Democratic primary by DeKalb County judge Denise Majette. It was stunning by itself that Majette, who had never run in a partisan contest before, was able to unseat the seemingly entrenched McKinney. However, Majette won by an overwhelming margin, garnering 58% of the vote to McKinney’s 42%."

"McKinney protested the result in court, claiming that thousands of Republicans, knowing they had no realistic chance of defeating her in November, had participated in the Democratic primary to vote against McKinney in revenge for her anti-Bush administration views and allegations of possible voter fraud in Florida in the 2000 Presidential Election. Like twenty other states, Georgia operates an open primary; voters do not claim a political party when they register to vote, and may participate in whichever party’s primary election they choose."

".. The district court dismissed the case, noting that the plaintiffs had presented no evidence in support of [ Equal Protection and VRA claims ], and lacked standing to bring [the First Amendment claim.]"

".. On appeal, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld this result. .. On October 18, 2004, the Supreme Court brought an end to the litigation, denying certiorari without comment."


The 2006 Primary Runnoff

“McKinney finished first in the July 18, 2006 Democratic primary, edging DeKalb County Commissioner Hank Johnson 47.1% to 44.4%, with a third candidate receiving 8.5%. However, since McKinney failed to get at least 50% of the vote, she and Johnson were forced into a run-off. McKinney had been heavily favored to win, so her narrow margin surprised observers. Johnson picked up support because he seemed to have a real possibility of winning.”

“In the runoff of August 8, 2006, although there were about 8,000 more voters than in the primary, McKinney received about the same number of votes as in July. Johnson won with 41,178 votes (59%) to McKinney’s 28,832 (41%).”