Status for investment in lieu of austere measures is arguably a clever and compelling way of framing the argument. Austerity is not proving that popular in any number of jurisdictions, let alone here, and there is growing doubt as to its efficacy in any event. But please, let’s also recognise from the outset that any opening up of status will be an emotive issue for a lot of Bermudians, mostly for black Bermudians but white as well, and for good reason.There is a fear, a very real and understandable fear, that any such move will further displace Bermudians and future opportunities for their children.It is real because this is what happened in the past when status was not limited to those who married Bermudians. There are those who have not forgotten the impact that the grants had on job opportunities, housing and even politics through the vote.It is also understandable because all parents want to do right by their children and to do all they can to ensure their offspring are afforded opportunities they never had or that they were denied. These are hopes and expectations to which we can all relate.The raising of the subject also exposes the weaknesses and deeply-rooted divisions that continue to bedevil the Bermuda community.The chief weakness is that of education. Say what you will about public education and all of the attempts by Government after Government, Minister after Minister, there remains a concern and a widespread belief that we are not graduating sufficient numbers of Bermudian schoolchildren who are proficient in even the basics.Yet as the world come to us to do business on our shores they expect the best and failing that look to import the best that they can employ. We are all aware how that plays out and how we run the risk of developing an economy which we cannot sustain.This leads to the divisions which are evident in Bermuda today, perhaps pronounced because of our size, but about size we can do very little. There is also the belief that only the well-off will continue to do well and that even so-called trickle-down economics won’t work. Bermudians have not shown in any great number that they are inclined to take on the lower-paying jobs, work the longer hours, and claw their way up the ladder.So we come to another schism: the gap between the have’s and have not’s. The fear is that given the above it will only get wider and not any narrower; at least not without a national plan that from education to employment puts our children on a path to participate and to succeed that we can track and have confidence . That could be a tall, but not impossible order.Advocates for the granting of status thus face a lot of work to convince us that any such plan will work for the benefit of all.Any scheme will not only have to be carefully crafted, but discussed, extensively and openly, before implementation. It will be critical to obtain, if possible, widespread agreement on who will qualify, and on what basis, and most importantly perhaps, who will make the selections?The national discourse should quite properly begin with the Legislature where it would be that much more desirable, and productive, to have more than just a debate in which each side argues its position, and that’s putting it nicely, but also a means by which the general public could be invited in on the discussion whereby they can be apprised of the facts and share their views. Any attempt to impose a scheme in any potentially ham-fisted way, from the top down, is likely to stoke rather than extinguish the flames of division, and not just on the Hill.Finally, whilst I appreciate that Bermuda is not facing a whole lot of options in trying to attract investors and much-needed foreign capital, given our past, that fact, coupled with the urgency for action, starts to sound less like a persuasive argument than it does a threat.