forum last night intended to uproot racism -- from which the media was explicitly banned.

The forum, held at the Bermuda College, was geared toward finding concrete strategies for eliminating racism in Bermuda.

And according to Human Rights Commission (HRC) executive director Kenneth Dill, the media was barred from covering the event because of its role in perpetuating racism.

"The media is specifically banned because it is felt by the steering committee that the media has played its part in perpetuating racism in Bermuda. The media will not be given the opportunity to do so in this instance.

"The media has had opportunities time and time again to present positive publicity and they have chosen to spin it in their own fashion. Not this time -- period,'' he emphasised.

People attending the forum were divided into three different racial categories -- white, black, and people who considered themselves neither black nor white.

Each racial group were then separated into smaller groups for 90 minutes to discuss racism in areas such as education, legislation, social interactions and economics.

Individuals were supplied with material for taking notes, and a sheet was passed out with a generic definition of racism typed at the top.

The three racial groups later re-converged to discuss implementation strategies.

People were nominated from each of the racial groups and asked to serve on a committee to implement the strategies. The forum was sponsored by the HRC, the National Association for Reconciliation, The Commission for Unity and Racial Equality, and Amnesty International Bermuda.

Mr. Dill said the forum was the brainchild of HRC which wanted to approach "the poison called racism'' differently.

He admitted that separating the races had been severely criticised, but said the numbers of people who turned out for the event justified the separation.

"Never before have we seen so many people in a public forum segregated to address the issue of racism,'' said Mr. Dill.

"Segregation has been a continuing factor in racism, and we believe that segregation will be one of the ways to heal.'' The results and strategies from last night's meeting will be gathered by an implementation committee which is scheduled to meet on July 10.

A time frame will be set up by a subcommittee task force for enforcing the strategies.

Mr. Dill said the strategies will eventually be published in booklet form and will be available to the media.

"Detailed and accurate reports of the organisation, the strategies, and the implementation plan will be forwarded to the media in due course and they can publish these reports if they so choose.

"Nonetheless, we will advertise in the usual manner -- we'll pay to put it in the paper the way we want it to appear,'' Mr. Dill added.

"The media will not be able to say, for example, that 50 white people attended when 150 actually attended.'' DISCRIMINATION DIS