All In: The Fight for Democracy

All In: The Fight for Democracy

What is most terrifying about Amazon’s voting rights documentary “All In: The Fight for Democracy” is its gradual establishment and reinforcement of the idea that history repeats itself. There are no longer any clearly impossible literacy tests or poll taxes to keep non-White people from voting; now, voting requirements are said to be about preventing fraud.

But this so called fraud prevention includes extra identification, purging voter rolls for supposed inactivity and closing polls all done for your own good, so that democracy can work properly and fairly. Republican backers of these laws didn’t bother with thinking about their impact on people of color or those living in poverty, or why they might be needed.

Explanation comes from Stacey Abrams, who ran as the Democratic candidate for Georgia governor in 2018. “When elected officials feel they may not have the power anymore, they have two choices: They can either be more responsive to those they lead, or they can eliminate the people they have to answer to.”

It seems like they went with the latter; we see countless scenes of folks waiting outside polling places for hours only to find out they’re not registered there or that their multiple forms of I.D. aren’t enough. This leads to disenfranchisement because people don’t think the system represents them so why would they vote? “All In” uses past events to demonstrate how throughout history, the right to vote has always been a struggle for anyone who wasn’t a wealthy white man.

Directors Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortés situate their history lesson (and call to action) within Abrams’ story her upbringing, education and eventual entry into politics as the first Black woman to run for governor on either major party ticket. The 2018 election was extremely close and highly contested; Abrams lost by just under 50,000 votes. A month before Election Day, her opponent (and eventual winner), Brian Kemp put over 53,000 voter registrations on hold, most of them belonging to minorities. Abrams refused to explicitly concede (her fiery speech is shown here) and started a voter suppression organization.

“All In” could have been an understandably angry look at what happened in 2018. But instead, the film brings in several scholars, lawyers and other experts to trace the right to vote back to the Founding Fathers. At America’s start, only White male property owners were allowed to vote; after the 15th Amendment passed, Black men could also cast ballots and hold office until Reconstruction ended. Women protested and marched but had to wait for the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

Author Ari Berman says that “the greatest moments of progress are followed by the most intense periods of retrenchment,” and he’s never been more correct than when describing what happened to Black men in this country after the Civil War. One vote, Andrew Young points out, ended Reconstruction and allowed for a spate of laws and practices designed to circumvent the 15th Amendment, among other things, as Carol Anderson details in one of her appearances that have you hanging on her every word. Abrams is the other talking head who lingers most memorably in your brain after watching “All In.”

Young’s remark about one vote leading to so much suffering could also be said about what happened after the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013. Just as surely as pulling Union troops out of South states post Reconstruction birthed a whole host of bad faith actions aimed at keeping Black people from voting (among many other rights), so did this Supreme Court decision allow these same states to go through with it again. Their reasoning was that once Barack Obama had been elected president, voter suppression was over.

It’s here where Garbus, Cortés and producer Abrams really lean into how all these racist practices affect not just Black or brown people but Asians and Indigenous folks too. Some of these facts are so mind-blowing they’re downright terrifying; I won’t spoil it with numbers but suffice it to say that before any voting rights legislation was passed, different regions were doing their dimmest to keep their minorities from having a voice.

And over these past seven years we’ve seen seemingly innocuous-sounding laws follow that same trajectory toward less egregious-sounding but still restrictive ends. The late John Lewis appears here both as a U.S. representative and the man whose skull got cracked on Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama yet another chilling reminder about why this right is so important.

But no one holds court quite like Abrams does in “All In.” When she’s not doling out information on how to make sure your electorate voice is heard, she’s telling stories about her pastor parents’ rules for her: Not only did they insist she get a good education, but they made it clear that part of being fortunate meant helping out those who were less so. “We were poor too!” Abrams says at one point, mimicking her younger self’s incredulity at the latter requirement.

She also recounts a tale of being denied an audience with the governor of Georgia that every high school valedictorian was supposed to receive because a white cop didn’t think Black people could be that smart. There’s some levity to the story when her dad explains how he responded to the guard’s actions with words unbecoming of a man of God; but what happens next still serves as another sad testament to the power of stereotypical perception.

It would be funny if it weren’t so sad that many years later Abrams would once again be denied entry into the Governor’s mansion; but instead of dwelling on that fact, she and the filmmakers fill this film with everything we need to know before Election Day arrives. So consider “All In: The Fight For Democracy” a valuable public service announcement wrapped in an educational, inspiring and entertaining documentary package.

Watch All In: The Fight for Democracy For Free On Gomovies.