Spring Break
Violence and oppression subject of new exhibit
Dominique Streeter
Issue date: 4/5/06 Section: News
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The three-day educational program, held in the Student Union Barrett Ballroom, is a collaborative effort by students and faculty involved with Mosaic Cross Cultural Center, judicial affairs, Student Union Incorporated, the art department, housing and various classes across campus with the joint purpose of spreading a message of acceptance and respect for all cultures.
"I think it's an important event," said event co-chair and Mosaic Director Hyon Chu Yi, "because if we look at today's society universally, the topics we address here are things that not only go on somewhere else, but also goes on here."
The words "Violence is everywhere" line the wall of the entrance to the Tunnel of Oppression, followed by numerous racial slurs scrawled across the wall. Images of the Klu Klux Klan, victims of the Holocaust and pictures of Rosa Parks and other civil rights activists engulf students passing through.
"I liked the fact that (the organizers) weren't scared," said Tatiana Thomas, a Gunderson High School student. "Nothing was held back, all the words were there. It was clear they weren't doing anything to hurt people's feelings, but nobody put things to the side or to shame."
Each room in the Tunnel of Oppression portrays a different form of oppression or diversity, such as anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, mixed racial heritage and interracial dating, disabilities, classism, the American dream and the spread of HIV.
"One of the things we try to do here is try to put it in the student's face," Yi said. "Issues of race, class, and disability rights - these are things that impact us every day and how we live."
Several students said the mixed ethnicity room stirred up many emotions in them.
"The tunnel was varied," said Lee Thisquen, a San Jose Conservation Corps student. "It had a lot of ups and downs about it. I really liked the part that talked about people being of different races and how they can't always relate or fit themselves into the box."
The room, which addresses the many issues people of mixed descent face, features a tree-shaped collage covered in magazine faces that had been cut up to include combinations of different skin colors and facial features. Shards of mirrors add impact to the multi ethnic faces that cover the walls.
A video shows interviews of people of all ages who come from mixed ethnic backgrounds, and facts about laws that used to ban interracial marriage are displayed along the walls.
The tunnel ends in the hope and action room in which students are encouraged to reflect upon the experience they had in the tunnel and comment on how it has impacted them.
A new addition to the tunnel is a video confessional room, in which students are encouraged to speak to the camera about their experience within the tunnel.
The video will be loaded online onto the Web site MySpace.com in order to further spread the message.
Students involved in creating the event said they felt moved by the process.
"I think it was very powerful for me to express my feelings, without holding anything back," said Bobby Seals, a senior African American studies major. "I love it, it's very powerful. I'm very proud of myself and my colleagues."
The Tunnel of Oppression will run today from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Keynote speaker Vernon Wall will speak from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Barrett Ballroom about social justice. On Thursday the event will run from 9 a.m. to noon.
"My hope is that people will take the time to go through the tunnel," said Yi. "It's not our goal that everyone goes through it and feels good about it. We just want people to realize what's going on out there in the world and to understand these issues. It's really about teaching people about who we are and how we should be interacting with the world around us."
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