I was just glued to CBC NewsWorld of all channels on Sunday night (big props to The Passionate Eye Showcase documentary series which I recommend you catch Sunday nights @ 10pm eastern btw) watching this vibrant animation intertwined with grainy real footage of the events leading to the Democratic National Convention of 1968. I had just happened to stumble upon this while aimlessly flipping through the channels, but instantly I was hooked. I’m somewhat of a documentary geek to begin with, but I became enamored with what I was watching. Animation in a documentary?? …… Really? Since I really hadn’t a clue to what I was watching, missing the beginning, I quickly grabbed my iPhone (still not sure how I even dressed or fed myself before I got this thing) as the first commercial break began. Turns out I was about 10 minutes into Brett Morgen’s documentary entitled Chicago 10, which happened to be all the rave at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.
The film emerges the viewer back in time to 1969 to the Chicago Conspiracy Trial, a year after the Chicago riots of 1968 that broke out between police and Vietnam War protestors during the Democratic National Convention. Eight men were singled out by the government f
or in sighting these riots. Now back in 69 there was no CNN, no MSNBC and of course no internet. If such a trial were to take place today we not only would be able to see highlights from inside the courtroom, but we most likely could watch the entire trial live on our cell phones. That’s where the animation came in to play. With only the written courtroom transcripts available Morgen chose to animate and use voice over actors such as Hank Azaria (yes the same Hank Azaria that does like half of the characters voices on the Simpsons) and Nick Nolte (yes the same Nick Nolte from the mug shot) for all of the in courtroom action. The real footage from 68 is then pieced throughout in flashback style as the facts are laid out during the testimony at the 
trial. It’s a visually stunning piece, told in such a way that you feel like you are there on the front lines dodging a beating from the police. It is simply a MUST see!
or in sighting these riots. Now back in 69 there was no CNN, no MSNBC and of course no internet. If such a trial were to take place today we not only would be able to see highlights from inside the courtroom, but we most likely could watch the entire trial live on our cell phones. That’s where the animation came in to play. With only the written courtroom transcripts available Morgen chose to animate and use voice over actors such as Hank Azaria (yes the same Hank Azaria that does like half of the characters voices on the Simpsons) and Nick Nolte (yes the same Nick Nolte from the mug shot) for all of the in courtroom action. The real footage from 68 is then pieced throughout in flashback style as the facts are laid out during the testimony at the 
trial. It’s a visually stunning piece, told in such a way that you feel like you are there on the front lines dodging a beating from the police. It is simply a MUST see!The film connected to more than just my inner hippie and anti-war nature. The riots broke out in and around Grant Park, the very same Grant Park that was the start/finish line of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon that I had competed in just this past October. The protestors assembled outside the Hilton hotel, the very same hotel that hosted the pre marathon pasta party that I attended. I caught myself talking to the television screen as I pointed “I was there!” numerous times as the archival footage was played. I recall just getting goose bumps on my skin and sitting there shaking my head. I had no clue about any of this just an hour earlier, I was in front of that hotel almost exactly 40 years later, hell I likely even ran along the same streets as those protestors walked during my marathon. Yet I was totally unaware of the significance of these places while I was there. I’m sure the cramping and sore feet I was experiencing in Grant Park post race was nothing compared to the skull splitting pain of a billy club meeting your brain as thunderous blows were rained upon your head by armor covered police officers while protesting against a violent war.
Between the images and story I was taking in, along with knowing I had been on the same ground myself was just blowing my mind! Although it was a feeling Grant Park had placed in me before. Just in November a mere month after I had visited, Grant Park once again had the World’s eyes upon its soil as hundreds of thousands of hopeful, excited citizens filled the park to witness Barack Obama’s election celebration. That night I was glued to the television and once more I couldn’t believe I had just been in the same place myself. I can only imagine what it felt like to be there on that historic night. Seeing the various ages and ethnicities of the people on hand and the emotions expressed on their faces will be something I’ll never forget. Even when I’m old and senile and if nothing else I’m certain I will be able to recall the image of Jessie Jackson crying as it was made official that Obam
a had won. What thoughts must have flooded his mind, as he himself tried twice to become President and now before him was a person of color being elected to a role many consider to be the most powerful man on the planet.I myself was still waiting for the rug to be pulled from underneath us, somehow the old boys’ network of corporate America was sure to sneak in “the old white guy” in the twelfth hour I had believed. Even at just twenty nine years of age I couldn’t conceive in my mind the American public ever placing an African American in this office in my lifetime. My eyes watered up as President Elect Obama spoke on that momentous night. I started to think to myself if a black man can actually be the President of the United States of America, what’s next? Would we ever see a person with a disability reach such heights? What more can I accomplish?
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