American Revolution 2 opens with video of the political demonstrations during the 1968 Democratic Convention and the aggressive response by the Chicago Police Department and the National Guard. Investigating the absence of African Americans at the protests, the filmmakers observe members of the Chicago branch of the Black Panther Party as they seek common ground with other white activist groups. In one scenario, Panther Bobby Lee and members of the Young Patriots, a community of white Appalachian activists from Chicago's Uptown neighborhood, arrange a protest against police brutality. The ostensibly different groups find common social and political goals that transcend racial differences: police brutality, poverty, unemployment, and substandard living circumstances. This possibility for a cross-racial and inter-ethnic political movement is the film's lovely but unfulfilled vision.
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American Revolution 2 opens with video of the political demonstrations during the 1968 Democratic Convention and the aggressive response by the Chicago Police Department and the National Guard. Investigating the absence of African Americans at the protests, the filmmakers observe members of the Chicago branch of the Black Panther Party as they seek common ground with other white activist groups. In one scenario, Panther Bobby Lee and members of the Young Patriots, a community of white Appalachian activists from Chicago's Uptown neighborhood, arrange a protest against police brutality. The ostensibly different groups find common social and political goals that transcend racial differences: police brutality, poverty, unemployment, and substandard living circumstances. This possibility for a cross-racial and inter-ethnic political movement is the film's lovely but unfulfilled vision.
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