Leaders of the Cultural Advisory Council and Student Health Services confronted taboo issues such as race, ethnicity and sexual orientation in an attempt to squash the presence of discrimination on Mesa campus, through a new event called “Tents of Tolerance,” on April 15 and 16.

The resonance of songs like “Give Peace a Chance” and whispers of controversial events lured Mesa students to four white tents located in the cafeteria quad. Nearly 1000 students participated in the event, which sought to educate students on the dangers of being oblivious to such heavy issues.

“Tents of Tolerance,” headed by Sue Shrader-Hanes, a licensed marriage family therapist and student counselor at Mesa, was inspired by the amount of students who came into Health Services with stories of discrimination from both fellow students and staff.

“I saw how segregated our campus was, I thought, we could have such an awesome campus if we learned how to talk to each other,” said Hanes. “And it’s not just students, there is discrimination from entitled professors that need this diversity training too.”

Three main tents housed depictions of discrimination in classrooms, a US/Mexico border scenario, and open discussion on experiences of discrimination.

Tent number four held chilling historical visuals of black people being brutalized. Blown up sepia pictures of men with grisly whip wounds and others in their white cotton night dresses hanging lifeless, their bodies limp like rag dolls from trees, gave students the ultimate vision of the consequences that hate, fear and misuse of power can yield.

A sheet of white butcher paper laid out on a table read, “What do you feel?” and words like “shame,” “anger” and “disgust” littered every corner of it.

In tent one, Hanes gave a mock lecture that amplified the lack of tolerance that schools have for ESL, English as a Second Language students. Followed by a boisterous speech by Starla Lewis, Professor of Black Studies, in which she discussed the US educational system, which often bypasses critical components of American history.

Lewis articulated that she believes that people don’t know they don’t know, and challenged students to fight the style of “regurgitative” education that has been instilled in America’s youth.

She also read passages from influential white supremacists from the early 1900’s, like Carl Brigham, who motivated a number of anti-immigration laws in the 20s.

Lewis quoted Jane Elliot, another of the events leaders, who said, “If you were born in America and you’re not a white supremacist, you’d be a miracle.” Our curriculum supports white supremacy,” Lewis added.

The event held controversial pretenses, but of the 1000 students that participated, only a few felt that the experience was uncalled for or offensive to them.

Hanes and her colleagues were sure to address any ad all possibilities of the event promoting or teaching the practice of racism, and a release of liability, which informed the students of it’s graphic and blatant nature, was signed by all students who participated.

Plans to make “Tents of Tolerance” a bi-annual event are in the works. Funding and volunteer participation was contributed by members of the surrounding community, City and Miramar Colleges, Mesa faculty and clubs like ASG, who donated $1500, and M.E.C.H.A., who orchestrated the border crossing scenario.