Kenyatta: Do Not Wait Your Turn, dir. Timothy Harris, USA, 95 min. 👏
Thursday, June 15, 3:30 pm, Castro + streaming encore
In 2018, Malcolm Kenyatta, an openly gay black man, won election to the Pennsylvania state House of Representatives, representing North Philadelphia, one of the poorest districts in the state. In 2022, with his fiancé at his side, he announced that he was running for the United States Senate. It was mostly a three-person race against John Fetterman (spoiler alert: he won the primary and is now a Senator) and Conor Lamb, plus an also-ran who appeared late in the race. Fetterman are both from the Pittsburgh area, so there was a little geographic rivalry involved, too.
The question of “electability” loomed large, mostly thinly veiled doubts about a gay Black man getting votes, especially in conservative rural parts of Pennsylvania, but there was also the problem that people wouldn’t donate to the campaign because not many people were donating to the campaign — indeed, one of the campaign workers shows off socks emblazoned with “🐔 ? 🥚 ?” — but Kenyatta did get some significant endorsements from labor groups and even the mayor of Fetterman’s home town. Kenyatta’s run raised his visibility, so the next time he runs for higher office, he will be a force to be reckoned with. This film is an excellent introduction to a politician you will want to know more about. Highly recommended.
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