It is the third Thursday of the month. The shades in the MLK room are turned down and the brightness of the projector shines through the dark. There are boxes of pizza in the back, rows of students facing forward and vulnerability that lingers all around.

The first Race Reels event of the school year occurred on Thursday, Sept. 22 at 6 p.m. Race Reels is a monthly, all-inclusive event that premiers powerful documentaries surrounding the topics of race and identity, while also providing pizza to attendees.

The documentary shown on Thursday was “El Canto del Colibrí”, which translates from Spanish to “The Hummingbird´s Song.” The film showcased Latino immigrant fathers living in the United States whose children identify with the LGBTQ+ community. The documentary served to break the stereotype of homophobia within the Latino immigrant parent community.

Spanish teacher and program facilitator Lindsay Davis said the film was chosen in honor of Hispanic Heritage month.

“We try to match the movies with the holidays,” Davis said. “Because it is Latinx heritage month, Marta Fuertes, who leads the Latinx club, chose this movie.”

Special education teacher and another one of the program facilitators Hayley Wells said one goal of Race Reels this year is to include more diversity and perspectives from students.

“We want to involve students’ voices for it to be meaningful,” Wells said. “After last year with the school trying to push more education regarding racial issues, it’s important to share ownership of picking these movies.”

Davis said that for this envisioned all-round inclusivity, she encouraged many clubs and identity groups at the high school to showcase their culture.

“We emailed a bunch of clubs and identity groups and said ‘We have the money, and we can help host. How could we support your groups by hosting a movie night with a guest speaker and pizza?’ Our goal for this school year is to show that we are willing to listen to their story,” Davis said.

Senior Simone Cooke, an attendee of Thursday’s Race Reels event, said it was an impactful experience, despite it being her first time attending.
“I haven’t been to Race Reels before, but it seemed like a great window for me to see other people’s experiences,” Cooke said. “I felt very moved by the whole documentary.”

Cooke said her takeaway from the experience was the importance of being an ally to the LGBTQ+ community.

“[I learned that] showing solidarity is the most important thing. You don’t know what is going on in someone’s life and you don’t know what they’ve been through,” Cook said. “It’s important to show love, kindness and solidarity [to the LGBTQ community] because of their struggles.”

According to Wells, something she admired from Thursday’s program was both students and staff willing to participate.

“The fact that it’s late at night and we have a million other things we could be doing, yet seeing students and staff come together for something like this is memorable from tonight,” Wells said. “It felt like such a safe space [with everyone] sharing personal experiences. Some people knew each other, but it was basically a room full of strangers who shared this video together.”

Wells said seeing the school community participate in Race Reels keeps her optimistic for the future.

“Just to hear people say ‘Oh, I’m taking that with me’ or ‘I’m going to tell my mom about that’ was so great,” Wells said. “I wasn’t talking about these kinds of issues when I was in high school. To see students and staff wanting to have these conversations gives me hope.”