Attack

To the Editors of The Crimson:

In light of recent gay and third world student activism here at Harvard, I feel compelled to share an experience I had at Tommy's Lunch Saturday night (circa 2:30 a.m.).

I was sitting in Tommy's when I noticed a couple of tough-looking white people evidently not students, harassing a gay Harvard student (I'll call him D) and his friends. Next I watched one of the thugs grab D by the collar and threaten to beat him up. At that point a Black Harvard student (E) came to D's aid and tried to usher the thug out of Tommy's. Push came to shove and a genuine brawl broke out. E was aided by an Adams House tutor and an employee of Tommy's.

When things had quieted down again, E had got the better of the "queer-bashing" attacker whose mouth was very bloody. The attacker, embarrassed at being bettered by a Black man, called E a nigger. E, livid with anger, left Tommy's to get a baseball bat out of his car to use to beat the townie senseless.

I, too, wanted to get a bat. I was trembling with anger. I know and understand the hate E felt when he heard that word, "NIGGER!"

While E was outside being persuaded to put the bat away, the "townie" tried to enlist the support of his fellow homophobic racists. He said it was not right to let a nigger beat up a white man. He said he could not believe that a room full of white people would stand by and let a Black man hit "one of us." One (and only one) white Harvard student had the guts to respond "I'm not one of you!"

Finally, the police arrived. E got in his car and left. D and his friends managed to escape out the back door. The "townies" exited and one of them said in reference to D, "people like that shouldn't be allowed in public,"

Today at Harvard, while a few progressive students are struggling with Harvard to ensure the rights of female, gay and Third World people, the majority of Harvard students do nothing. Well, for all of the do-nothings out there, the politically active women, gay and Third World students are not oversensitive. Our lives are at stake. In the space of five minutes, I witnessed an attempted gay bashing and an assault on a Black student. Don't tell me that our fears are not well-founded. All white liberal students who claim they support our struggle who did not attend G.L.A.D. day, who will not help us work for a Third World student center (that would be open to everyone), who did not rally to save the Radcliffe Forum, who would not demonstrate against the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, who would not march for divestiture of Harvard's stock in South Africa--maybe the crime I witnessed in Tommy's Saturday night will help convince you that our struggle is for survival.

White "majority" students can (and did Saturday night) shrug their shoulders, and write off what happened in Tommy's as an "isolated incident." I cannot. I know better. This ignorant "townie" could easily have been a Harvard student, as was shown by the PBH har assment a few weeks ago.

When D was threatened, I was threatened. The blood staining E's shirt was my blood. anyone who is not actively fighting against the type of violence and oppression in our society that I witnessed Saturday night in Tommy's is part of the problem.

The white, heterosexual Harvard majority has a choice. I, however, have no choice but to fight, for my very existence depends on it. LeRoy Wight Collins '81