Announcement: Gerrymandering, The Film

Today at 6:30pm, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries will join the Rev. Clinton M. Miller, Pastor of Brown Memorial Baptist Church, Common Cause Executive Director, Susan Lerner, and film director Jeff Reichert at the screening of Reichert's critically acclaimed Tribeca Film festival documentary, Gerrymandering: The Film. 

Gerrymandering: The Film explores gerrymandering in the US electioneering system – the process of redrawing districts for political gain.

Originally, a well-intentioned effort to include fair representation of populations in disparate districts, gerrymander, Reichert shows, eventually began to serve as a politically motivated manipulation of districts to win control over the Congress.

Covering the history of gerrymandering, Reichert reveals the ways how the political parties (Republicans and Democrats) benefit from the abuse of this method. The documentary provides several cases from history, when gerrymandering helped one politician to be elected, while his opponents had no chances after a skillful redistricting applied.

The film is provided by the interviews with well-known politicians and journalists, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bob Graham, Howard Dean, Susan Lerner, Ed Rollins, Gray Davis, Alan S. Lowenthal, Ben Barnes and many others.

At the end of the film, Reichert appeals to the audience to either vote against or reform the process of gerrymandering, a method which he believes has become little more than manipulating the popular votes in order to win an election.

WHO: Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, Reverend Clinton Miller and Susan Lerner

WHAT: Gerrymandering: The Film, a free screening and panel discussion

WHEN: Thursday, August 18, 6:30pm

WHERE: Brown Memorial Baptist Church, Fellowship Hall, 52 Gates Avenue (b/t Waverly and Washington Avenues), Brooklyn