As part of Hate Crime Awareness Week at Loyola University, a “Deconstruction Zone” was erected at the Granada Center on campus depicting various forms of hate against groups such as Jews, African-Americans, women, Muslims, Latinos and homosexuals. The exhibit was organized by Hillel along with Residence Life, the University Ministry and the Office of Student Diversity. Also taking part were volunteers from various ethnic student organizations.

Upon entering the Deconstruction Zone, a bright light leads visitors into a black room with bleak images of Nazi symbols and pictures of the Holocaust. On one side of the wall, photos of Prussian Blue, a musical group comprised of two twin sisters who sing songs about white pride, are posted.

The next room visitors see is about commercial sex in India, especially in the red-light district where poor people face discrimination because of the caste system and often enter into human trafficking.

Afterward guests enter a room where Hindu students are holding a peaceful prayer service when suddenly two masked gunmen run in and kill them.

In the next room, a female Muslim student speaks about what it is like to go to school and wear the hijab (women’s head covering) as a personal choice. She explains what it means to her and the impact it has on her relationships with others, especially those who are ignorant of Islam.

A timeline of hate crimes lines a wall, including the famous story of Matthew Shepherd, a college student murdered in 1998 because he was gay.

The next rooms evaluate how African Americans face discrimination and the history of racism. At one point, visitors enter a dark room and listen to a recording of a slave who is caught reading by her master as her master yells and beats her for what she has done. Suddenly a curtain is drawn and an actor portraying a slave is pretending to be hung for her “crime.” In the next room, an employer sifts through applications, searching for an employee who is not black, regardless of their qualifications, by looking at where they are from in Chicago and what their names are. “That name sounds so ghetto!” the actress says. The last room was an African-American soldier entering the military, but then facing segregation because the soldier is unable to enter a restaurant because of the color of her skin.

After visitors enter the Deconstruction Zone, Loyola faculty and staff lead a discussion about reactions to the Deconstruction Zone and solutions to end discrimination.