American Blackout

A political documentary is given power through its ability to convince the viewer that there is an injustice being perpetuated against them as an individual and that only by mass movement can it be rectified. In Hoffer's 1951 work "The True Believer" he warned that " a rising mass movement attracts and holds a following not by its doctrine and promises, but by the refuge it offers from the anxieties, barrenness and meaninglessness of an individual existence." Many mass movements have sought and effected positive change in society, while others, such as those that seem to be rising in popularity now that offer redemption to the crisis-stricken and desperate are ones to worry about.
In addition, while new digital technologies can offer people glimpses of information and events that they would otherwise miss due to geography or chronology, they can also contribute to things such as "slacktivism" in which people and groups utilize the power of "awareness," rather than by donating money for the work, volunteering, and reflecting upon their own passive or active participation in said problem. "Only by addressing our own racism (however inadvertent it may be at times) can we grow movements for social justice. By giving short shrift to the subject, internally or in the larger society, we virtually guarantee the defeat of whatever movements for social transformation we claim to support, " Tim Wise
The film "American Blackout" should not surprise those who work to challenge the continued existence of institutionalized racism, despite popular political declarations that we now live in a "color-blind" society. It is only by acknowledging that we do not live in a post-racial society that we can continue to move towards racial equity instead of away from it.