Excitement pervaded Wednesday night's screening of "Democracy for Sale," the documentary starring Wilkes native Zach Galifianakis which aired at the Stone Center for Performing Arts in North Wilkesboro. The excitement was from the fact that Zach himself was going to talk about the film afterwards.
The Working Films organizers of the event were very nervous. This was the first panel, of the 75 events they'd put on, that Zach was going to participate in. It was also the largest viewing they'd had to date. 400+ people. They were nervous that he needed an easy way to get in and out of the venue without being mobbed like a Hollywood star. They were also a little nervous that he might not show up at all.
We reassured them. Yes, he would get in and out easily. No one would bother him. Yes, he would show.
Zach didn't disappoint.
I'd seen the Epix series "America Divided" several months ago. It was edited unusually, with a couple of unrelated stories about immigration and unemployment with other stars interweaved throughout. You were constantly being yanked back and forth into the story. One moment, you'd be watchin America Ferrera focusing on immigration issues, the next, Zach would be talking about coal ash in NC. It was a little disorienting. But on Wednesday, they showed just Zach's story, in its entirety as "Democracy for Sale" and it was a more easily understood piece that way.
First, it showed Zach starting with HB2, the "bathroom bill,"...raising NC's visibility on the national stage. And he starts an investigation of why NC, this state that he loves so much that he still maintains a home there, is so focused on bathrooms and where people go to the bathroom?
It's not long before he senses that it's a diversion. And Ari Berman, journalist for The Nation, directs his attention to the NC issues that weren't being addressed. Corporate greed, power and coverups. Zach speaks to Tracey Edwards, a woman in Stokes County who grew up around coal plants of Duke Energy. Everyone in her community is sick with various - and unusual - ailments. She finally figured out that it was due to the coal ash in their water supply. She never wanted to become an activist, she had to for her family.
The ties between then governor Pat McCrory and Duke Energy were strong. He worked for them for 24 years, they donated $30million to a PAC that gets republican governors elected. When they spilled their coal ash into the Dan River, they got a fine that amounted to nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Basically equal to if a person making $60,000 a year got a fine of 30-cents. Nothing.
Zach goes and talks to UNC professor Gene Nichol, who is a researcher on poverty in NC and has written several books and studies on the topic. He enlightens Zach on the world of big money in politics. Citizens United, the law that allows corporations to give money as individuals and removes strict caps, has run amok. Long time political animals like Art Pope, who is a billionaire with his own conservative agenda, can give to candidates that he can control.
Through all this, Zach is able to use his humor, and Wilkes County self-deprecation to show the absurdity of it all. Why should someone's voice be heard over someone else's simply because they have money and the other doesn't? The right to free speech should apply to all, shouldn't it?
Zach speaks with Margaret Dickson, NC representative in Fayetteville. She spoke about the gerrymandered maps of NC, and how private contractors for the GOP went to the maps with surgical precision and cut around neighborhoods and houses to "pack" the African American and liberal households into as few districts as possible. Sure, they'd lose a few seats, but they could win a majority of the seats easily with their majority voters. This was not just sour grapes on her behalf. She showed that they went after her and were dead set that she was not going to win another seat in office ever again.
The Working Films organizers of the event were very nervous. This was the first panel, of the 75 events they'd put on, that Zach was going to participate in. It was also the largest viewing they'd had to date. 400+ people. They were nervous that he needed an easy way to get in and out of the venue without being mobbed like a Hollywood star. They were also a little nervous that he might not show up at all.
We reassured them. Yes, he would get in and out easily. No one would bother him. Yes, he would show.
Zach didn't disappoint.
I'd seen the Epix series "America Divided" several months ago. It was edited unusually, with a couple of unrelated stories about immigration and unemployment with other stars interweaved throughout. You were constantly being yanked back and forth into the story. One moment, you'd be watchin America Ferrera focusing on immigration issues, the next, Zach would be talking about coal ash in NC. It was a little disorienting. But on Wednesday, they showed just Zach's story, in its entirety as "Democracy for Sale" and it was a more easily understood piece that way.
First, it showed Zach starting with HB2, the "bathroom bill,"...raising NC's visibility on the national stage. And he starts an investigation of why NC, this state that he loves so much that he still maintains a home there, is so focused on bathrooms and where people go to the bathroom?
It's not long before he senses that it's a diversion. And Ari Berman, journalist for The Nation, directs his attention to the NC issues that weren't being addressed. Corporate greed, power and coverups. Zach speaks to Tracey Edwards, a woman in Stokes County who grew up around coal plants of Duke Energy. Everyone in her community is sick with various - and unusual - ailments. She finally figured out that it was due to the coal ash in their water supply. She never wanted to become an activist, she had to for her family.
The ties between then governor Pat McCrory and Duke Energy were strong. He worked for them for 24 years, they donated $30million to a PAC that gets republican governors elected. When they spilled their coal ash into the Dan River, they got a fine that amounted to nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Basically equal to if a person making $60,000 a year got a fine of 30-cents. Nothing.
Zach goes and talks to UNC professor Gene Nichol, who is a researcher on poverty in NC and has written several books and studies on the topic. He enlightens Zach on the world of big money in politics. Citizens United, the law that allows corporations to give money as individuals and removes strict caps, has run amok. Long time political animals like Art Pope, who is a billionaire with his own conservative agenda, can give to candidates that he can control.
Through all this, Zach is able to use his humor, and Wilkes County self-deprecation to show the absurdity of it all. Why should someone's voice be heard over someone else's simply because they have money and the other doesn't? The right to free speech should apply to all, shouldn't it?
Zach speaks with Margaret Dickson, NC representative in Fayetteville. She spoke about the gerrymandered maps of NC, and how private contractors for the GOP went to the maps with surgical precision and cut around neighborhoods and houses to "pack" the African American and liberal households into as few districts as possible. Sure, they'd lose a few seats, but they could win a majority of the seats easily with their majority voters. This was not just sour grapes on her behalf. She showed that they went after her and were dead set that she was not going to win another seat in office ever again.
Appalachia is deeply conservative. The bible belt is strong in the hills and valleys. But more and more are finding the Republican agenda is leaving their needs behind in a blind grab for more money and power,...two things that area are without. Zach speaks with Tracy Deyton, a long-time NC Republican whose family is changing their mind about their party after she has an autistic son. Their healthcare needs were being broken by policies made by the very party they were raised to believe in. They changed their thinking, and she shares her story to allow others to see the folly of their ways before it's too late.
Finally, Zach gets an audience with Carter Wrenn, the campaign manager who not only defeated his uncle, Nick Galifianakis, with Jesse Helms, but continued to have a lock on the office until Helms' retirement. He validates Zach's suspicions about Art Pope. He is a billionaire, who doesn't have an elected office, but can win elections by the power of his money. As his friend, Ari Berman, tells Zach later, "Why should his voice matter more than yours?"
"It's not a Republican/Democrat issue. It's a human issue," Zach Galifianakis at his film's screening this week, echoing Neil Gorsuch's "Long before we are Republicans or Democrats, we are Americans," line from his Congressional hearing.
I beg to differ on that. It IS a Democrat issue. The Democrat party collapsed in 2010. In part due to Gerrymandering. In part due to apathy. In part due to the explosion of "unaffiliated" voters. Until you have people willing to stand up proudly that they are Democrats in towns like ours,...and challenge the threats to their jobs, to their voices,...they will continue to win.
In the end, there is hope that NC can come back from this gerrymandered, pro-corporation, polluter-friendly political climate. But it is going to take some time, and a lot of effort from people like Dr. Reverend Barber, and NAACP chapters all across our state (and yes, Wilkes does have one). And it's going to take you and me talking to people and sharing your story and explaining over and over and over again the facts and the ways the GOP big money agenda is hurting real families and small towns like ours.
The questions at the end of the panel mostly seemed to revolve around HOW do you talk to people that don't want to hear you? And there's no easy solution to that. But Zach did offer that humor helps,...and that finding those areas where you DO intersect in interests helps....and that not giving up and losing hope. That we need to start talking to one another because we have to ask ourselves what happen when we don't. "When we're too polite, then it's too late," said Zach.
Perhaps Professor Nichol said it best, "We must organize, energize and outnumber them." We can't depend on the courts to do it all for us. That will take too long. And if we don't convince enough long-time Republicans to vote more Democrats in office, we won't have the votes. So those dialogues MUST happen.
The Wilkes NAACP needs members of all colors to succeed in Wilkes County. The Indivisible Group of Wilkes is making waves. But the Wilkes County Democrats need you, too. Our old-time establishment is not participating like they used to, and the younger generation is struggling to survive, but we need both of them to energize our local party, to find qualified candidates for local and state offices that will fight for us, to do the things that will make our communities a better place.
If you came out to Wednesday night's event, we hope you'll come out to the next Wilkes Democrats' event. And if you missed the event, and want to watch "America Divided" which features Zach Galifianakis' film interspersed through Episode 4 and 5, you can watch if for free on EPIX or HULU (with existing subscription).
Finally, Zach gets an audience with Carter Wrenn, the campaign manager who not only defeated his uncle, Nick Galifianakis, with Jesse Helms, but continued to have a lock on the office until Helms' retirement. He validates Zach's suspicions about Art Pope. He is a billionaire, who doesn't have an elected office, but can win elections by the power of his money. As his friend, Ari Berman, tells Zach later, "Why should his voice matter more than yours?"
"It's not a Republican/Democrat issue. It's a human issue," Zach Galifianakis at his film's screening this week, echoing Neil Gorsuch's "Long before we are Republicans or Democrats, we are Americans," line from his Congressional hearing.
I beg to differ on that. It IS a Democrat issue. The Democrat party collapsed in 2010. In part due to Gerrymandering. In part due to apathy. In part due to the explosion of "unaffiliated" voters. Until you have people willing to stand up proudly that they are Democrats in towns like ours,...and challenge the threats to their jobs, to their voices,...they will continue to win.
In the end, there is hope that NC can come back from this gerrymandered, pro-corporation, polluter-friendly political climate. But it is going to take some time, and a lot of effort from people like Dr. Reverend Barber, and NAACP chapters all across our state (and yes, Wilkes does have one). And it's going to take you and me talking to people and sharing your story and explaining over and over and over again the facts and the ways the GOP big money agenda is hurting real families and small towns like ours.
The questions at the end of the panel mostly seemed to revolve around HOW do you talk to people that don't want to hear you? And there's no easy solution to that. But Zach did offer that humor helps,...and that finding those areas where you DO intersect in interests helps....and that not giving up and losing hope. That we need to start talking to one another because we have to ask ourselves what happen when we don't. "When we're too polite, then it's too late," said Zach.
Perhaps Professor Nichol said it best, "We must organize, energize and outnumber them." We can't depend on the courts to do it all for us. That will take too long. And if we don't convince enough long-time Republicans to vote more Democrats in office, we won't have the votes. So those dialogues MUST happen.
The Wilkes NAACP needs members of all colors to succeed in Wilkes County. The Indivisible Group of Wilkes is making waves. But the Wilkes County Democrats need you, too. Our old-time establishment is not participating like they used to, and the younger generation is struggling to survive, but we need both of them to energize our local party, to find qualified candidates for local and state offices that will fight for us, to do the things that will make our communities a better place.
If you came out to Wednesday night's event, we hope you'll come out to the next Wilkes Democrats' event. And if you missed the event, and want to watch "America Divided" which features Zach Galifianakis' film interspersed through Episode 4 and 5, you can watch if for free on EPIX or HULU (with existing subscription).