THERE can be no doubting the fact that the Progressive Labour Party won the 1998 General Election riding the crest of a wave of black voter dissatisfaction. But judging by the sentiments expressed at the recent Black Agenda 2003 forum at St. Paul's Centennial Hall, the PLP Government could well face a major black backlash at the next ballot.

Seemingly those who thought that with the election of a PLP Government black issues and concerns would rise to the top of the public agenda have been underwhelmed by its four years in office.

Of course, this feeling is bound up in what I have been calling a crisis of expectations on the part of mostly black PLP voters. The Progressive Labour Party has, in fact, been facing something of a dilemma during its first term in Government.

Despite its black political support base, it still has to deal with a native white population that has traditionally dominated the old, tourism- and retail-based economy - and a foreign population that now controls much of the new, off-shore Bermudian economy.

A PLP victory at the polls did not mean that the white community was going to be driven into the sea. From the outset the PLP has had to tread carefully so as not to give the impression that it had a mandate to do just that - to figuratively drive the white community into the sea. But still the Government was left with the vexed problem of coming to grips with the lack of economic parity between the races in Bermuda. But once forming the Government it soon found out that it could not govern on behalf of one group; it had to govern on behalf of all.

The Premier attempted to explain this on more than one occasion but her comments on the issue were perceived, in the eyes of some, as being a refusal to acknowledge that the black community had special concerns about its own interests. In fact, some disillusioned and dispirited supporters concluded that she and the PLP had abandoned these concerns.

But even before Cabinet Minister Ren?e Webb made her statement about opening parts of Bermuda's economy to people "who look like me", this was not the reality. Those who had traditionally not been given opportunities before the PLP came to power now seemingly were getting those opportunities under a new Government.

No doubt the Berkeley building project was to be a sort of flagship project in this regard. However, the problems and controversy that continue to beset the building of this school by a black construction company have largely precluded this major capital project from being a shining example of black economic empowerment under a PLP Government. Then there is the problem of any genuine Government accomplishments being lost on the minds of those on the ground so to speak - the PLP black political support base. This day-to-day amnesia, as it were, owes in part to the growing feeling among Bermudians that they are being squeezed in their own country. This is especially true with the continuing housing problem and continuing questions about employment practices. A record number of work permits being issued under the PLP is is not what many expected to happen after the proclamation of the "New" Bermuda in 1998.

During the Black Agenda meeting it seems that the question of Bermudian Independence kept coming to the fore. I believe that this issue is surfacing again as Bermudians are beginning to feel the need to put some type of claim on their own country, something that is not assured as a British Overseas Territory.

But to return to the bind that the PLP Government finds itself in as regards to meeting the expectations of its grass roots political base. It would have been much better if it had come out earlier on and stated what its policies were going to be in regard to coming to grips with this question of black economic empowerment and closing the income gap between the black and white communities.

instead it has sent out mixed signals in this regard, trapped between the aspirations and expectations of the voters who voted the PLP into power and the need to show that as a Government, it is governing on behalf of all of Bermuda's people and not just one group.

It has left this issue to be addressed by individual members of the Government. Each puts his or her own spin on the subject. The result is that it seems the PLP does not have a coherent position on concerns that go to the heart of black Bermudian aspirations in their own country.

Because Bermuda as a whole has not dealt honestly with its racial past and the legacy that this has left behind, this question is viewed very differently by Bermuda's two racial groups. Calls for black economic empowerment and statements about giving parts of Bermuda's economy "to people who look like me" are liable to be met with reactions of fear and suspicion on the part of the white community. While on the part of the black community, which still harbours a great sense of grievance over the consequences of Bermuda's racial past, many have embraced a sense of victimhood which sees the past wrapped up with the present and threatening to be a large factor in the future.

This sense of victimhood - while identifying what may be the root of our problem - also poses a danger in that it threatens to obscure the victories that we have already won and the battles that we no longer have to fight. Let me give an illustration.

years ago I was in a union meeting convened to talk about the same issue that the Black Agenda 2003 forum was discussing. A participant got up and stated that he did not see where the black community had made any advancement in this country.

He wanted to know where all the black-owned businesses were. He was right in one sense - the black community should own more of Bermuda's economy than it does. However, he was wrong in another aspect. We were sitting in our brand-new union headquarters, air-conditioned and quite comfortable, a far cry from our old headquarters. This represents advancement. And we had conceived and built it using our own resources.

Yet the person who asked the question had not seen where we had made progress even though he was standing in a building that is quite literally a concrete monument to black fortitude and perseverance. Had he seen that, he would have seen where we could continue to build on what had already been achieved.

This psychological damage, based on our historical experience in this country, is something that only we can heal. Ironically, one of the speakers in the Black Agenda 2003 forum touched on this when he observed how a 19th-century people coming out of slavery with some skills and determined, despite segregation, to move ahead is in the 21st century producing young black males with no education who are filling jail cells.

We are disconnected with our own past - a glorious past filled with struggle and advancement and achievement, a past that saw our people not giving in despite a segregated Bermuda which denied them their human rights.

If we want things to change, then we must take steps on our own to see that they change, first as individuals then as a people.

Wallowing in victimhood will tend to prevent us from accepting our legacy of determination, the determination that helped our people in the past to survive and prosper and which they have clearly left us as a guide. The fates must be crying out for us to recognise and embrace these truths.

One thing is for sure, no other people can liberate us in this regard. Only we can do this for ourselves.