Dear Editor,

The Bermuda Tourism Authority runs an advertisement before each movie. It presents an attractive Bermuda environment. At one point it proclaims, “We are English, we are Caribbean, we are Portuguese” At no point does it proclaim “We are African”.

Yet the majority of Bermudians are of African descent and we were here two centuries before those of Portuguese descent. Moreover, our entire social and political structure is a result of our African heritage.

It resulted in enslavement, segregation and white affirmative action on the thesis that Africans were inferior to Europeans and often considered less than human. The continuing impact is still with us in our two-tiered society.

We are also African. I realise that the racist doctrine of white supremacy has been so effective that there are still too many blacks who wish to ignore their African ancestry and forget their slave heritage with its long-term psychological impact, nevertheless if it is being proclaimed that we are English, we are Caribbean, we are Portuguese please also acknowledge that we are African.

Eva N Hodgson