The Royal Gazette account of last Wednesday’s meeting on the SAGE Commission, suggests that this Report has engendered fear among many.

One attendee reportedly described the Report as a ‘declaration of war’ and urged his fellows to ‘think like soldiers’. It’s worth noting that the Opposition Leader, Marc Bean, encouraged those attending to “..look at (the Report) rationally”.

Any society facing a significant challenge is at a crossroads. The dangers offered by any crisis may result in fear and anger, which psychologists report undermine one’s ability to be rational.

Alternatively, people take courage and are better able to leverage opportunities for solutions.

The Civil Rights movement in the United States and its counterpart in Bermuda offers examples of ordinary people transcending fear, thus wisely empowering themselves to build bridges towards a better society.

On this day, December 2, 1977 the anniversary of the hangings of Erskine Burrows and Larry Tacklyn and the subsequent riots, we can reflect on an example of the former; but let’s first explore the latter.

In 1955 Rosa Parks courage sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, eventually igniting a non-violent movement across the US.

Notwithstanding the fact that blacks were only 15 percent of the population, through bridge-building with persons of conscience of all races and faiths, that peaceful movement — in the face of substantial threats — brought about major legislative changes by 1964 in a Congress dominated by Southern Democrats.

Dr EF Gordon led a campaign in Bermuda in the late 1940s to remove racial barriers and promote democracy.

Those seeds laid the groundwork for the Progressive Group — with stealth — initiated the Theatre Boycott in 1959, thus peacefully removing formal barriers in only two weeks and created the momentum for the right to vote for all, by 1968.

These are examples of how through courage, fear is overcome and rational minds successfully build bridges, thus transforming challenges.

On the other hand, in the 1970s, anger held more sway, limiting rational approaches to crises.

While a student at University of Miami in 1970, only two of us turned up for a planned sit-in to protest the small number of blacks at the school.

When a busload of riot police pulled up at the building, we slipped out the back door.

Later that day, renowned entertainer, Sammy Davis Jr contacted the school regarding the protest and offered to stage a show to boost scholarships.

His effort to build bridges attracted a diverse crowd of hundreds, raising substantial funds.

However, caught up in the anger common in those times, I missed the lesson of Miami and focused on ‘burning’ rather than ‘building’.

Back home that summer, I learnt that the British Government had ignored UN Sanctions on selling arms to South Africa.

I urged my colleagues in the Black Berets to burn the Union Jack in protest, near City Hall on August 6, 1970. There was no initial official response to the protest.

However, after I had returned to university, a month later, Beret leader Bobby Bassett was sentenced to six months imprisonment.

This led to a ping-pong effect, with the imprisonment of three others and a downward spiral of conflict and anger between supporters and Police.

A number of reports and publications conclude that this scenario led to the worst period in 20th century Bermuda, beginning with the assassination of Police Commissioner George Duckett in September 1972 and that of Governor, Sir Richard Sharples and his ADC, Capt Hugh Sayers in March of 1973.

When I finished school in 1974, I organised a campaign against the hangings of Burrows and Tacklyn, those convicted of the assassinations.

As thorny as the issue was, fear dominated and very few would become involved. I approached the young lawyer who had recently joined the ruling United Bermuda Party, Julian Hall and he joined. Thus, demonstrating the power of building bridges, as others came on board.

In October 1977 I went off to London for further education and took with me the petition with some 14,000 signatures.

Phil Perinchief called on November 25th to report that Premier David Gibbons had announced in Parliament that morning that the hanging of Burrows and Tacklyn would take place on December 2nd, seven days later.

By this time my perspective had evolved.

I had moved from burning flags to building bridges and through networking with British people of conscience, was able to secure a meeting at Westminster with a group of about seven members of the House of Lords.

This led to having the entire group of the Parliamentary Labour Caucus resolve to try to block the hangings.

This was significant, notwithstanding that they didn’t succeed.

The riots that resulted, lead to the deaths of two tourists and a hotel worker at the Southampton Princess.

Those five years of ‘war’ saw ten people die, offering us all a significant lesson.

That education served enough of us well in 1981, facing a general strike.

Through bridge-building, that crisis was resolved, peacefully. The fact this largest-ever industrial action in Bermuda was concluded without any violence, was major, in contrast to 1977.

I would hope that in reflecting on the current crossroads, we would be sure to use the rational approach, as suggested by Mr Bean.

We can achieve this by being aware of our own emotions and claiming our power to respond.

Let me encourage readers to use those lessons from the past and courageously build bridges across our community, thus accessing our collective wisdom, as we address these most challenging times.