Rocking Systemic Oppression with Washington University

Last night I had the great pleasure of closing out a week of social justice programming at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. I grew up in the Heartland, the Great Middle, and really appreciated being back in a place with so much sky!After a week boasting sunny days with temperatures in the mid-sixties, students and faculty braved the cold, drizzly rain on a Friday night to join me in dialogues about the structures of oppression. Maybe it's because I was facilitating in front of a really big fireplace.I spoke for a bit about the faultiness of the diversity model and the equality model, and asked that tonight we instead focus on the systems of oppression rather than its symptoms. I also spoke about the necessity for critical self-reflection when working to combat oppression, to be honest about one's oppression, but also to take accountability for one's privileges and responsibility for ending oppression for all. I then facilitated some activities from the Theatre of the Oppressed arsenal to engage in dialogue about structural oppression.At first attendees seemed scared when I told them I was going to make them play games, but they quickly jumped right in with energy.Dialogue was rich and substantive, and the students really made me think. We talked about individual perspective and positionality within oppressive systems, evolutionary vs. revolutionary models of liberation, and the need to invest in mutual humanization. All as a result of playing a few games. Theatre of the Oppressed never ceases to impress me.