Tunnel of oppression aims to highlight contemporary social justice issues

“I felt ugly.”

Those three words rang throughout the post “Tunnel of Oppression” discussion as students talked about their experience going through this immersive program. 

The Tunnel of Oppression is an interactive production created by the Social Justice Scholars, Resident Assistants, staff and students. The Tunnel aims to highlight contemporary social justice issues and to introduce participants to the concepts of oppression, microaggressions, and the -isms faced by numerous communities in today’s society.

Participants were guided through a series of scenes that aim to educate and challenge them to think critically about issues of oppression. 

The topics covered this year were “School Shootings,” “The Colonization of Puerto Rican Women,” “Criminalization of Homelessness” and “Colorism in the Black Community.” 

Before groups went through the tunnel, there was a room that featured the topic of white supremacy and racism in America. This room had a Ted Talk titled “Dismantling White Supremacy in Education” by Noelle Picara playing over the speakers to further show how white supremacy is a problem in America. Specifically in the educational system, and what we as citizens need to do to further combat this issue.

The tunnel took place on the fourth floor of the Campus Center and was open to students, staff, and everyone in the community with over 1,300 people attending this year.

The first room was the “Colonization of Puerto Rican Women” which featured a series of clips from three different generations of Boricuan women from the past to today, and how Spanish and American colonization had an effect on this specific group of American citizens.

“The room that shocked me the most was definitely the ‘Colonization of Puerto Rican Women’ because I had zero prior knowledge on the subject. Plus it’s not an issue that many people talk about, so hearing the stories was eye opening,” Jacob Rater said.

Next, the group was taken to the “School Shootings” room highlighting a teacher, parent and student narrating their own personal perspectives of how they view school shootings and the impact it has on the everyday lives of individuals in the public school space. This room is performed using poetry to emphasize the constant narratives surrounding school shootings.

“It was honestly scary how normalized and numb I realized I was to school shootings now that they are so frequent. It was impactful because it made me think about how insane it is that this happens so often,” freshman Anita Buhendwa said. 

Then, the group goes to the “Criminalization of Homelessness” room. Telling the story of an IUPUI student and how they navigate life as a college student that is also homeless, as well as being considered a criminal because of all the tickets and fines they received while juggling school and the responsibilities of being an adult.

“Making the homelessness section be about a homeless student was a good idea,” Ballard said. 

The last room the group went to was the room that highlights “Colorism in the Black Community.” This room was especially unique because before the performance, the group is separated by two different sides of the room based on the color of their skin through the brown paper bag test. 

The brown paper bag test is a test that was created by members of the Black community to further segregate lighter skinned Black people from darker skinned Black people. If you passed the brown paper bag test, meaning your skin is lighter than the bag, you would be accepted into various clubs and exclusive groups.

If you were light skinned, you were considered the cream of the crop when it comes to being “beautiful” in the eyes of society.

“I was not expecting a paper bag to be held to my face and to be placed on the ‘wrong’ side of the room. I felt angry for people who have to face this in their daily lives,” Anita went on to say.

The final two stops on the tour are a wrap up that shows a video telling the group what they can do to be the change they want to see, followed by a discussion about the topics they have just witnessed.

In the discussion room, you could  hear a pin drop as people still try to process the heavy subjects they’ve seen showcased. 

“I feel like crying right now because I’m a mom and the school shootings room hit close to home for me,” a woman said.

The Tunnel was created seven years ago by Amanda Bonilla, who is the founder of the Social Justice Scholarship.

“It started back in 2013 when a group of students came to me and wanted to do a diversity program that went deeper than ‘food and festivities’. I knew that they were very talented and passionate students at IUPUI who just needed a platform to share their stories, and I had seen The Tunnel done at other campuses so I knew it would be the perfect format,” Bonilla said. 

“The Social Justice Scholars pick the topics. I believe that by allowing the students to choose the topics adds more buy-in and the students really gain so much from designing the room. As well as working with the Sapphire Theatre Company to develop the scripts and set design,” Bonilla added. 

“Every year we hit capacity and have more and more people attend and support the event. It’s really empowering to see so many faculty, staff, and students take an hour out of their day to learn and participate in Tunnel. I hope people who attended gain an understanding of the experiences of their peers at IUPUI and challenge themselves to think critically about issues of oppression,” Bonilla said.