The Tunnel of Oppression, which aimed to address and raise awareness to social justice issues, returned to NC State Wednesday in the Talley Ballroom.
The Tunnel of Oppression was organized by Multicultural Student Affairs, CSLEPS, University Recreation, PCOM, TRiO Student Services, Greek Life, the Counseling Center, the NC State Women’s Center and the GLBT Center.
The groups were led from station to station, beginning in a room with facts about different forms of oppression spread throughout the event. The participants were then given a personal assessment and a form to fill out which allowed people to record their personal opinions about different oppressive systems before going through the tunnel.
Following the introduction, guests were led to view the first skit in the tunnel, which centered on sexism. This skit portrayed a woman who experienced a sexual assault at a party and is testifying against her rapist in court. The woman in the skit is being bombarded by the offense and is asked questions about what she was wearing or how much alcohol she had consumed that night.
The next skit, which addressed transphobia, took place in a dorm room with two roommates. In the skit, one of the roommates comes out to the other.
“I thought that it was powerful in showing how hard it is to be yourself in an intimate setting and how hard it is to be yourself around someone that you considered to be a friend that would accept you,” said Rasheen Samaroo, a senior studying criminology. “It shows how hard it is to be yourself in a world that doesn’t want to or doesn’t know how to accept you.”
Intersectionality of classism and sizeism, discrimination based on body shape, is the next form of oppression. In this skit, two women run into each other at the grocery store. One has just come from a personal training session and the other is struggling to find coupons to help pay for her groceries. Pointing out how much healthier fresh fruits and vegetables are than canned, the first woman is not able to understand that not everyone can afford them.
The last skit was about racism and was set in the Brickyard on campus. It portrayed a black man holding a sign that says “#BLACKLIVESMATTER” when a white man walks up asking if his life also matters.
The event ends with a debriefing and empowerment sessions.
“We’ve included a longer debriefing session this year to talk about what you experienced and anything you want to take away,” said Ian Stroud the assistant director of Multicultural Student Affairs. “Now that you are aware, how can you become a better advocate?”
Participants are asked to write a word on a sheet of paper that they would like to take out of their vocabulary and to throw it in a trashcan.
When asked about how she felt after experiencing the tunnel, Karli Moore, a senior studying chemistry said “I realized I’m really not as developed as I thought I was on the topic of oppression, and I have a lot more work to do.”
Stroud said more than 300 people came to the event last year, and organizers are expecting more than 400 people to attend this year.
The event will continue to be open for guests through Thursday. It is one of the many events scheduled by the University in celebration of Black History Month.
“Every room is different from last year,” Stroud said. “Last year, we had seven rooms, and now we are down to five. We wanted to be able to focus more on just five and make it more of an enlightening experience.”
Editor’s Note: We originally failed to mention that the NC State’s Women’s Center, which was part of the planning committee and hosted a room, also participated in the event.
