I am writing to express my extreme disappointment over an occurance at the sit-in at the HUB on Tuesday. The sit-in was to protest a racial flyer and the physical and verbal advances of ten white males towards five black females.

I am a white male who has always been strongly against any form of racism. However, I feel that being non-racist is no longer enough, and by only worrying about my own actions I am condoning the racist actions of others. My feelings were, "I'm not racist, but what can I do about others?"

I came to the conclusion that I could no longer only be concerned about my actions, and that I must show strong support for the non-racist cause.

I could no longer simply get angry over racism, I had to channel that anger into action. So, I went to the sit-in to voice my disgust over the racist actions.

As the protesters gathered to listen to the leaders speak, one leader asked those who were not members of the community to leave while they talked. At first I was stunned by the request and I did not know what to think.

The Collegian reporters made objections but were asked to leave, and I was not quite sure whether they wanted all whites to leave or just reporters. Another white man said that he was a supporter not a reporter, so I decided to ask the leaders if all whites were to leave.

In front of the assembled group one leader said, "Look around you. Do you look like a member of the community?" The group broke out in laughter, and I was shocked at the rudeness of the leader. If you need the help of a group, you do not exclude and act rude towards that group.

To progress toward the goal of eliminating racism from campus, the black community needs white support. If they could eliminate racism through the efforts of their community alone, they would have solved the problem last year.

However, the black community needs an active white force that will apply effective pressure to other whites. On Tuesday night the black community excluded those whites who wanted to help, and by doing so hurt their own cause.

I went home with the feeling that I had wasted my time, I could have been home writing my English paper for the next day. Most importantly, my commitment to helping the black community in the fight against racism seemed like idealistic garbage.

With time comes perspective, and I know that attitude is wrong. I still hope the white community will see that being non-racist is not good enough and they must take action.

I also hope the black community will open their eyes and see they need the help of the white community, and they cannot afford to exclude them.

My greatest hope though, is that we could stop talking about black and white communities and talk about one community of human beings and Americans.