Photos by Jessica Von Schell and Michael Marconi
The Downtown Tunnel of Oppression organization hosted an event Thursday to raise student awareness about various humanitarian issues within the global community.
The event, the Tunnel of Oppression, featured interactive exhibits that focused on this year’s themes of global hunger, homelessness, sex trafficking and Islamophobia, the fear of Muslims.
Eichelle Armstrong, the organization’s president, said the purpose of the event, located at the Civic Space Park’s A. E. England Building, was to create a sensory experience for students.
“The goal is to put the participants in the shoes of the oppressed for a very short time so that they can come out of (the event) with some sense of empathy – some sense of greater understanding (so) that they will be moved to do something about it,” Armstrong said.
The tunnel tour began with a privilege walk, in which students lined up together holding hands and were then asked to take one step forward or one step backward depending on whether or not a statement applied to them.
Brittany Coll, civil engineering sophomore, said she was most impacted by the privilege walk because it was a different way to illustrate the impact of oppression.
“We see a lot of ads on television or in the newspaper,” Coll said. “I think we’ve become (desensitized) – like it doesn’t affect us as much anymore – and (the walk) was something that’s actually really visual and physical.”
The visual impact of seeing students on either side of the privilege line showed the opportunities that some students had and the adversity that other students had faced.
In addition, Coll said she did not realize how prevalent oppression was in her community, especially among her peers.
“We think of oppression as being far away – not necessarily domestic – when it actually is (domestic,)” Coll said.
The tunnel also included photo collages, video clips, auditory aids and interactive exhibits.
Preparation for the Tunnel of Oppression began back in August, Armstrong said.
But while content and logistical preparations are important, Armstrong said, the event is meaningless if the message doesn’t relate to the students.
“If our content isn’t relevant, we’re not doing our job, and the tunnel doesn’t matter,” she said.
Armstrong said her goal for the Tunnel of Oppression is to create change by forcing students to challenge their perceptions of the world around them.
“I want people to come out with questions and enough nerve, enough gumption, to go get the answers,” Armstrong said.
Whether change happens on a large or small scale, Armstrong said she wanted people to think about the raw truth the Tunnel of Oppression presented.
“We don’t tie a bow around it,” she said. Adding later, “The world is not going to be saved by pretty bows.”
At the end of the tunnel, various student organizations had tables set up on behalf of different causes advocating global change. One such organization, Oxfam, speaks on behalf of indigenous people who have been displaced by oil, gas and mining companies.
Nonprofit studies graduate student Caroline Naisarian said she is grateful for organizations like Oxfam.
Originally from Kenya, Naisarian said she is at ASU on a Student Visa to study nonprofit management because it is a field that desperately needs leaders in her country.
She also said she was encouraged by people in the U.S. who stand up for other people in different countries.
“(In Africa) you cannot fight for your rights unless you are in a position of power,” Naisarian said. “And when we have such organizations fighting for us, it really makes the government start shaking and it makes the government start making changes.”
Awareness organizations like Downtown Tunnel of Oppression and advocacy groups like Oxfam bring people together, Naisarian said.
“Having such organizations coming up together for one cause really makes a change in (my) country,” she said. “And also (it) gives our people a voice.”
Contact the reporter at jvonsche@asu.edu
