By Emnit Brega, Staff Writer

Published in print Apr. 8, 2015

The Tunnel Of Oppression started in 1993 at Western Illinois University as a residential hall program and last Monday, the Office of Multicultural Affairs brought it to UNC-Greensboro.

The Social Justice Group and Kaleidoscope collaborated on this event; they visited the Tunnel of Oppression at N.C. State and got feedback in order to create their own version.

“We started with this about three months ago…it kind of was like a dream at the time…because we had so little money,” explained Alicia Williams and Erica Moncrief.

The Tunnel of Oppression is a way to bring into light the oppression people experience through theatrical performances. The scripts were written by UNCG students who have experienced the specific mistreatment they chose to demonstrate. The four rooms that were presented during this year’s tunnel were related to: learning disabilities, immigration, body image and racial profiling.

Next year they hope to add more rooms.

Before starting the tour of the tunnel, students were given 10 seconds to fill out an identity card similar to what one would find at a doctor’s office. The card asked for information about gender and race, amongst other things. The reason for the small questionnaire was to convey that some people don’t have their preferred option listed on such forms.

The first room in the tunnel was dedicated to learning disabilities.

The first scenario took place in an English 101 class where the class would be quizzed based on a presentation given by a student who did her presentation in sign language. Not many people know sign language, so it was impossible to understand the presentation. Along that line, the teacher asked students to pay close attention to a video that they would have to write a paper on but the audio was turned down exceptionally low, making it difficult to understand.

Those scenarios were done so students could get an understanding of the everyday difficulties of those with learning disabilities.

For the second room, students were greeted by a bloody male and a female who appeared to have gotten in a car crash. In a panic, the female, who was in the passenger seat, started to call an ambulance because the driver was severely injured but to everyone’s surprise, he was pleading for her to not do so. In this scenario, the male in the situation was an undocumented student who feared that if the police came his family would be in danger of getting deported.

Racial profiling was presented in the third room. A female called the police to raise concern about a black male walking back and forth but when the police came to the scene, things escalated quickly. The police asked to look through the backpack of the UNCG student, who was waiting for the bus, but when the male refused, he was treated unfairly and was beaten to the ground.

The final room had two women demonstrating body image oppression. The two women who were looking in the mirror were speaking out about the injustices they have experienced because of their body not only by strangers but by family members and friends as well.

After going through the tour— before the group discussions started— the group of students were encouraged to write down words of empowerment on paper as well as pledge to be more aware and educate others.

During the group discussion, everyone went around and stated their names along with what they were feeling after the tour. Shock, aware, scared and enlightened were some of the words people used to describe what they felt.  One mother in particular talked about how she fears for her son because he has been stopped by police and racially profiled more than twice.

After the event, some participants expressed how happy they are that the Tunnel Of Oppression has finally come to UNCG. 

One student explained how this event hits home for her, saying, “It’s finally being voiced… and it was done in a way that communicated the point clearly and succinctly.”

Another young man in the group said, “I’m happy that it’s here…now it allows a lot of students to see what other students go through.”

“You don’t feel sorry for them but once you understand them you can be with them side by side,” the young man concluded.