When it comes to racism we should learn from our kids, said a top educator.

"It's amazing how children don't notice colour; it's never an issue,'' Dellwood Primary School Principal Dale Butler yesterday told a luncheon gathering of the Hamilton Lions Club.

"I've seen them playing marbles, sharing toys, and the only time the issue of race arises is when they've heard something said in the home. Even then they don't know what it's all about.'' Adults, meanwhile, continue to stumble on, bogged down by histories of oppression and colonialism, unable to break with the past or perceive a common future. We're not born racist said Mr. Butler, it's been handed down throughout history.

And Bermuda offers the perfect laboratory through which to observe the racial dynamic, he said in an off-the-cuff speech at the Pier 6 restaurant.

"Growing up on Angle Street, a predominantly black neighbourhood; going to an all-black school. I grew up and never heard the word "white'' mentioned. It's hard to believe but it's true.

"To me a Bermudian was a Bermudian.'' But race clearly plays its hand across Bermuda, he added.

"It's evident in terms of power, you can see it at work in the economy.'' It's even tangible at the social level, at work in something as harmless as the Bermuda Festival.

"You see very few black people at classical music concerts; at the same time very few whites attend jazz concerts, though the crowd appeared to be half-and-half for the (recent) Jackie Torrence concert,'' he said.

Recent movements to bridge the colour gap are to be applauded, but it's too early to tell if organisations such as Beyond Barriers, the National Association for Reconciliation, and the Commission on Unity and Racial Equality are making an impact.

Meanwhile unity and integration very quickly break down said Mr. Butler, despite the best efforts of groups such as the Lions, Rotarians, or Kiwanis.

Advance on the other hand, can be measured easily: "We'll really be making progress when a white person says `yes' to joining the PLP because they believe in what it stands for, or when more white people take their seats at a St. Paul's AME Church concert,'' he said.

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