Review of George Mason's Tunnel of Oppression

I would like to start with the definition of oppression:

"Unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power. Something that oppresses especially in being an unjust or excessive exercise of power."

I feel it is important to start with how I was dressed because I feel this had a direct affect on my experience in the Tunnel of Oppression. I have on a black hat tilted to the side, black t-shirt with Krypto the super dog on it, gray hoodie, black pants, and black shoes. All of my clothing is of course to big and looks very "urban." This will become an important factor in how I am perceived by the actors in the tunnel.

Now that we are on the same page on what oppression is and what I was wearing I will go through the tunnel stage by stage. The names for the displays could be wrong because I was not able to take notes during the tour. The tour was supposed to star at 4:20 p.m. my group did not enter until 4:48 p.m. The guide was harsh and made everyone feel uncomfortable. The rules forbid talking, laughing, pictures, book bags, cell phones, and not following directions. He showed us a list of the displays we were going to see. Number four was crossed out I did my best to try and read it, it was sexual assault something.

We first went through bum hate alley, actors dressed as homeless people shouting slurs at the group. It is very dark through the entire tour, lighting is staged when needed. I noticed right away they were all homosexual slurs, "Faggot, queer, queer bait, homo, etc." At the end of the line a female bum got in my face calling me a faggot, then told me to take a stand and take a sign. She held out a sign for me to take. I followed instruction and walked off with my sign. The sign read, "Jews for peace in the middle east." Right away this is funny, the only hate they can muster is against homosexuals. Thus falling back on what is acceptable in modern society and what isn't. You can say someone's gay, but you can't call them a nigger. The first time in my life I would have liked to have heard that word.

The signs were for the soapbox presentation, which was meant to resemble a protest rally. A woman was talking about making a stand and various buzz words in order to show that it is never to soon to start fighting for what is right. I start to realize this tour was a bad idea because this is not oppression, this is consciousness. I'm not sure how activism is oppression.

We are told to drop our signs and proceed into the next room. It is a sobriety checkpoint. The officer, a real cop, shines a light in your face as you walk in then tell you to either go behind the yellow line or stand on a blue line. The yellow line people are just watching. Blue line people get drunk goggles and are told to walk. I was told right away to stand on a blue line. The cop also made it clear that he was focused on me. Almost any action I took he told me not to do that when others clearly were, "hands out of the pockets, stay on the line, hands at your side, pay attention to me." I didn't pay any mind to this at the time and just did as I was told. I had to take off my glasses to wear the goggles, thus not only making me drunk, but blind. I walked in a straight line perfectly. Then everyone watched some music video from a band I'm sure is popular, the video showed a car crash from drunk driving in a melodramatic fashion. Again not oppression, checking to make sure people can operate a car is rational. If anyone considers sobriety check points oppression should not be driving anyways.

The next room is for Heterosexism. There are names on the wall and a TV in front of us. It plays the ad about Mathew Shepard. People shouting queer, gay, and fag then a message from his mother about how hate can lead to death. We learn the names on the wall are dead transgender people who have been killed. This is oppression and completely appropriate for the Tunnel of Oppression.

The body image room is lined with stuff on each wall and tables are also full of information. There is a TV showing random ads, people with eating disorders, models, etc. We spent all of four seconds in this room. Once everyone was in the room we left. You can't stop the tunnel because you aren't allowed to talk. I would have liked to spent more time in this room because it was full of things to see. This room had a clear and well constructed message than we all got under half of.

Abortion was next, the table had fetus models covered with a sheet. A film was shown on the progression of the fetus in the womb. We see the development up until fifteen weeks. Then the film tells us the manner in which some abortions are done which involves dismembering the baby. "Society has oppressed our woman and killed their babies," was the quote that followed. They then uncovered the fetus models. I'm not sure what kind of oppression they are talking about. Women are oppressed, that I know, but I'm not sure if it stems from abortions. Vagueness does not help me understand anything.

Airport security post 9/11 was really set up much like an airport. We were made into two lines and told to empty our pockets into plastic containers. A security officer who isn't very nice takes our containers and inspect them. He thinks my ipod is suspicious, but returns it to me. Then searches through my wallet asking if I have two forms of ID. I do and then he asks me if I am from European descent. This is where I made a mistake, being biracial I am half European descent and half African. African being the stigmatized group I side with them when it comes to important matters. I answer automatically no. He had the funniest expression on his face, I completely ruined his act. He of course saw a white man and expected him to agree. The point was to make someone from a privileged group feel marginalized. Those who were members of groups other than white were not picked on nearly as bad than those who looked/are white.

I was told to step over in the security area where I was told to spread my arms and legs. I was then inspected with a metal detector and asked a rapid fire amount of questions in a hostile manner.

"Sir can you speak English?"

"Yes."

"Take off your hat this is an airport! Didn't you read the sign?"

"No," she then pointed at the sign which I read. It said nothing about hats.

"Why didn't you read the sign?"

"I didn't care." At this point it becoming funny because this is an awful search. I've been searched enough to know this was bad. I have a huge grin on my face which she can see.

"Turn around, spread those legs, don't drop you arms. Take off your shoes."

I take them off easily because they are slip on, she waves her detector over them and tells me to put them back on. I put them back on and she says, "Always them white boys ain't it frank? Damn white people, white people, stupid whites, a wigger to boot." This is again to make a privileged person feel marginalized, her being a black woman pushing a white person around is supposed to make me feel oppressed and understand how it is. As if now I'm supposed to go, "Oh wow oppression now I know its bitter sting." This of course it completely lost on me because I have spent most of my life in a black community with black people being black. The only thing I learned is that I am a target in the tunnel just as much as I am outside it. This fact was pointed out in the debriefing by several students who also assumed I was white.

This is where my personal style comes in because the only other white male in the group was never picked on. He was dressed modestly jeans and a t-shirt with leather shoes. He was unassuming in appearance and demeanor. I stuck out as an easy mark because I look inauthentic to other people. The term wigger is of course the clincher which shows that had I not been dressed in this way I would not have been used as an example. As if they were teaching me a lesson I needed to learn due to my fakeness. I was happy someone finally say a hurtful term, I expected more of them in the Tunnel of Oppression.

The wall around the Gaza Strip could have done without narration. There was a wall separating three people from a hospital. They had a sick child with them, but because of the wall they could not get the medical help needed and the baby would surly die. We spent way to much time here because they had to explain everything. Yet in other rooms we don't even stop walking, even when there were things to see and do.

Choices a film on how growing up can affect who you are even when you start out the same was show. They started as normal kids and friends. One went to college and is normal. The other shot up his school and killed himself. I'm not sure where the oppression is. If anything half these displays are broke extensions of the Dare program than they are examples of oppression. If a man in a dog costume told me to say no I would have not been surprised in the least.

Hurricane Katrina was next, this was set up in an after school special style with three actors. A student is doing research for class on, guess, Katrina and the government's lack of response. Two of her friends enter and a discussion starts on the subject and leads to how they can help the victims. It was very theatric with a fade to black then a lone actor on stage with a single light and message, "Just because the government didn't respond in time doesn't mean there isn't anything you can do." I again don't see the oppression. This activism, or awareness, and helping those in need but not oppression.

In the Disability room we are all seated and given playing cards. You are given a disability based on the suit of your card. There are only four suits so: blind, in a wheel chair, deaf, and a social anxiety disorder. We were told to close our eyes and think about what it would be like to have any of these and how hard it would be just to get through the tunnel. They are of course assuming we don't have any of these because they never asked. We then watched a video on how the world would be if people with disabilities ran the world. No stairs, everything in brail, people can't hear you so they sign, and people in wheel chairs tripping you. There is of course oppression in the way we construct our lives to not include people with disabilities.

The tour is finally over...at least I thought. Now it is time for the wall of hope. A well lighted room with a table full of mints and water to drink. A circle of chairs are in front of a projector with messages of, yep, hope. A wall where we can right messages to inspire others, even though this is the last group so they are taking it down as soon as we leave, is provided and we are given markers. We are given paper and told to write something negative that we felt in the tunnel then throw it away in a trash can so we can let go of it. I had nothing to say at the time, this lead to me writing this paper. We then sat and discussed how we felt with counselors. I said nothing for forty minutes because this thing was supposed to be over an hour ago. People slowly started sharing, talking about me being a target, how they didn't feel a great deal of it was oppression. I got the feeling the counselors might have not gone through the tunnel because they didn't seem to know what anyone was talking about. The counselors kept trying to get people like me to talk, but it didn't happen. Afterwards we filled out a survey and we finally let go.

The entire experience was draining in the wrong way. I just felt bothered and hostile afterwards because there was a great lack of oppression. Calling half of these things oppression on takes away from real oppression which affects our daily lives. Most of the things weren't even oppression so I have no idea how to even put those in the context of oppression. Women were a footnote in the tunnel because the sexual assault display was not in the tour. The only time women are directly talked about was in the abortion one and that left me even more confused. So I walk away with nothing but contempt and disbelief.