Alarm at the gate

I can't believe what is happening at IU. If I had not attended school for three years here already, I wouldn't ever believe this. I have finally come to the conclusion that IU, while integrated racially, doesn't promote diversity interaction.\nSimply put, the white students don't mess with the Indian students and the Asian students don't mess with the black students. (But we'll eat each others' food.)\nWhat's wrong, IU? I expected college to provide me with opportunities to meet people from all different walks of life.\nI wonder where the problem lies. Maybe it lies within the student organizations here on campus. Maybe this problem is a direct reflection of the faculty here. Come to think about it, maybe people don't see it as a problem. Maybe the problem lies within the non-existent display of school harmony and community among our many different schools and extra-curricular organizations, like sports teams or the greek community.\nTrust me when I say I know that this is college and not high school; however, I also know that the reason for coming to a large diverse institution of higher learning is to learn how to interact with people who look completely different than you and come from different walks of life. \nWant to here something funny? OK, this might not be all that funny because maybe you're the person I'm talking about. My sophomore year here I sat in a sociology class with about 75 students. Everyone was white except four other students and myself. The topic being discussed was poverty and violence within cities with large concentrations of black communities. Here's the funny part: During the discussion two white students repeatedly kept saying things like, "I guess black people just don't know how to get good jobs," and "When I see black people on television shows like 'Cops,' it helps me understand why they do some of the things they do."\nOK, so my question to the class, being black and obviously successful because I'm here in college, was: "How many black people do you all know?"\nSurprisingly half of the class (majority white) all agreed that they didn't know any. The communities they came from (not all from the state of Indiana) had no black people. Essentially, they have never met a black person prior to coming to IU. I was speechless.\nAs a senior at IU close to attaining my first degree in the field of sociology, I understand how tragedies like this could happen even though it's the new millennium and everybody watches Chappelle's Show. Being the cool guy I am, after my white classmates made those comments, I went up to them individually and shook their hands and said, "Hi, my name is Leonard Bryant. I am black. I will gladly be your friend and hang out with you."\nThe class loved it, and we all laughed. Some of the students in that class are my best friends to date. \nAs leaders of tomorrow, we not only can accomplish more as a school but as a society if we all venture out of our comfort zones and live life without stereotypes and hearsay.\nI challenge every person at IU to take a chance and meet a black, Asian, or white person if you have not already. The rewards of having an authentic friendship with a person of another race and culture is priceless.