"For years now I have heard the words 'Wait!' It rings in the ear of every Negro with a piercing familiarity. This 'Wait' has almost always meant 'Never.' "

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 1963

There I was on Feb. 15, witnessing the protest and stoppage of traffic by a group of concerned African Americans outside McLanahan's.

A white onlooker stood in the cold rain, huddled under an umbrella. Suddenly he blurted out to his companion, "You know, this really pisses me off! They're not gonna prove anything by stopping traffic!"

I surmised, never having met this young man, that he understood nothing about the function of protests, nothing about civil disobedience and very little about what it's like to suffer under the debilitating strictures of racial oppression.

Our nation, albeit imperfect, is rich in precedent. The United States, and the freedoms it came to represent, was founded on a revolt. Colonists who demanded freedom and sovereignty let the British know they were sick of being controlled and manipulated.

In a November 1961 sermon, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reminded listeners that "the Boston Tea Party was nothing but a massive act of civil disobedience."

And almost 120 years before King's sermon, Henry David Thoreau, in a now-famous essay originally called "Resistance to Civil Government," had urged the American people to resist yielding to any government which imposes itself upon their sacred principles.

The protesters on that rainy day in February shared the general principle that racism is wrong. When a series of recent racist incidents at Penn State threatened their principle, they took action.

"Action from principle, -- the perception and the performance of right, -- changes things and relations; it is essentially revolutionary." --Thoreau.

The young man under the umbrella, although he may share the basic principle that racism is wrong, clearly saw the protest as a waste of time. He felt no solidarity whatsoever with the African Americans because he never has been oppressed. Perhaps he was "pissed off" because he couldn't fathom the purpose of marching in a circle in freezing rain for 30 minutes in the middle of a busy intersection.

Overtly, he saw no connection between stopping traffic and ending racism. Unfortunately, his vision was shallow and he missed the point entirely.

Echoing the ideas of King's "Letter from Birmingham City Jail," Dr. Thomas Poole, who directs Eisenhower Chapel and teaches a course on the life and philosophy of Dr. King, explained:

"That protest wasn't intended to end racism. That wasn't the point. That protest, like any protest by an oppressed group, served to publicly dramatize the grievance, so that it can no longer be ignored, and must be dealt with."

Civil disobedience, in this case, acted as a catalyst. "A public demonstration," Poole said, "brings the conflict, which has been existing on an unseen level, to the surface."

The concerned African Americans who marched in front of traffic weaved their emotions and outrage into one positive solidarity, and they peaceably vented their anger and frustration.

Their protest succeeded because it made the community sit up and take notice. They demonstrated to the non-African American majority not only that racism still is a very real problem here at Penn State, but also that it will not be tolerated passively.

A favorite response to protests -- by non-African American politicians, administrators and others lacking conscience or understanding -- is, "Be patient." They criticize public protests as "extreme" or "radical," and urge such alternative bureaucratic means as "write letters to your congressional representatives."

"Be patient" is an unrealistic and insensitive expectation. If African American students marching for civil rights back in 1964 had accepted "be patient" as a solution, we still might have "colored" toilets and drinking fountains.

Dr. King preached no race or group ought to accept oppression patiently or benignly -- their fate ultimately will improve. King often used the maxim, "An oppressed group cannot remain oppressed forever."

He also said, "Justice too long delayed is justice denied."

Thoreau scorned patience as well; he scorned acquiescence to state solutions. "As for adopting the ways which the State has provided for remedying the evil, I know not of such ways. They take too much time, and a man's life will be gone. I have other affairs to attend to."

The protesters also have been criticized for excluding supportive non-African Americans from their closed meetings. Non-African American people, especially those of conscience, need to recognize the necessity of African Americans establishing total solidarity.

Solidarity requires self-sufficiency; and when the protesters voted that all non-African Americans should leave the room at one of their meetings, it was by no means a rejection of those conscientious supporters -- it was merely a yearning for self-sufficiency.

For centuries, African Americans have been told what is best for them. Even the most well-meaning non-African American supporter truly has no right to play a part in defining the precious identity of an oppressed group.

The flash of anger I saw in the young man that February day arose from his ignorance of history, and his failure to acknowledge the prevalence here -- and the shocking injustice -- of racism.

He has no way of realizing the depth of courage one protestor needed to stand firmly with his back up against a Mack truck in freezing rain; because as a complacent, unenlightened member of Penn State's 97 percent non-African American majority, he doesn't know what it's like to be looked at differently because his skin is brown.

He lives unoppressed; he is part of a white culture. He can afford to say, "Be patient."