Does a plaintiff have to confront an employee who makes a racially offensive remark about another employee?

The district court, relying on Silver v. KCA, Inc., 586 F.2d 138 (9th Cir.1978), found that because Trent complained about the practice of an outside consultant, not her employer, she was not protesting an "unlawful employment practice" under Title VII, and thus her conduct did not constitute a "protected activity." In Silver, the plaintiff was fired after confronting a co-employee and protesting a racially offensive remark he had made about her trainee. Her protest was directed solely to the employee who made the offensive remark. We said that "[t]he opposition must be directed at an unlawful employment practice of an employer, not an act of discrimination by a private individual." Id. at 141.