Homeroom
**Seen at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.
“Homeroom” shows an ever-changing world for the seniors of Oakland High School. From the continued racism so many of their peers can face to their attempts to get police out of schools to the lockdown because of COVID-19 that turns their graduation into a virtual one, these young people went through a lot in their last year of high school; oh yeah, and the death of George Floyd led to worldwide Black Lives Matters protests in late May. And director Peter Nicks is there for it all with these seniors, seeing them grow into the type of adults they will probably be after high school.
This is the third film in a trilogy for director Peter Nicks, but even though I have not seen either of the previous two films, his insight and keen sense of documentation makes “Homeroom” an intriguing watch all the same. The primary students he is following are members of the ACC, Oakland’s All City Council, a student advocacy group that works with the City Council on matters of student concerns. Chief among their concerns are police as security guards in city schools, which feeds into the systemic racism a lot of these students face, and the school-to-prison pipeline that has led to mass incarceration. Watching these students lead their fellow students towards activism, and having their voice heard during a City Council meeting, is one of the most inspiring moments I think we’ve seen over the years, as this younger generation, which has grown up through school shooting drills and seeing movements like Black Lives Matter polarize society, and force discussions of some of the same topics these students are raising, starts to take a leadership position in the larger community. They are then forced to move through the challenges of a pandemic, the prejudice that can raise, and finally, having to graduate virtually, adding stress and a sense of anti-climax to all they had accomplished academically, while also seeing them actively participate in the Black Lives Matter movement themselves, and reach their goals as student activists. I’m intrigued to see where these kids go from here; I would imagine that, for some of them, we have not heard the last from them in the political arena.
