The tension which already surrounds the topic of racism was raised to levels of even higher stress as dozens of people participated in a dialogue on race.

The Royal Gazette was witness to only the first part of the Bermuda Race Relations Initiative. It began on Monday with about 60 participants — half black and half white. In all about 75 were involved from all sections of the community included politicians from both parties, business leaders, and media executives.

Almost immediately people were asked to choose, based on their own racial identity, between a room designated for white people and a room designated for black people.

After the choices were made it was clear that many people in the white room were uncomfortable being forced into an ultimatum.

When asked who was uncomfortable being categorised as white, about half the people who chose the white room raised their hands.

There was no similar discomfort voiced in the room of black people.

After about an hour the two racial groups were reunited to collectively talk about race and race identity. The discussion was led by two American race relations experts — Dr. Bernestine Singley, who is black, and Professor Robert Jensen, who is white.

Mr. Jensen explained the discomfort in the white room this way: "White is a category a lot of people don't want to be in because it's the category of oppression. That's not a happy place to be."

In the blacks only room participants centred their discussion mostly on classicism and something referred to as shadism. It was described as the shades of black skin tones.

Some participants argued that black people who have light skin do not face the same level of racial prejudice as people who have a darker completion.

One woman who fit the description of light skinned said she was certain she had never received preferential treatment over other blacks because her skin was fairer. Meantime her long time friend sitting only two seats away disagreed, albeit reluctantly. She reported witnessing her friend get preferential treatment, but apparently her friend had not noticed it for herself.

The collection of blacks seemed to generally agree that blacks cannot be racist because the definition of racism is prejudice plus power. And since the black participants did not see themselves as having power, they could not by extension be racist.

There was also a general collective agreement that blacks needed to work harder at allowing whites to speak first and articulate in their own words their perceptions of racism.

All of these discussions happened within the first two hours. The goal was to maintain that level of discussion and debate over the course of two days to form a comprehensive dialogue on race.

The dialogue is expected to continue in a series of other race initiative events which will roll out between now and November.