Racial integration was "a cruel illusion'' on the Island, especially for black youngsters, he claimed.

They were in a state of confusion, the 19-year-old said, adding, "It's scary to think where my generation will be in ten years.'' He claimed racism existed "with disturbing regularity'' in primary and secondary schools and "right here at Bermuda College''.

"Being black right now is a struggle,'' he said.

Resounding applause followed the Bermuda College student's riveting address.

About 150 people -- mostly educators, community activists and college students -- attended the Beyond Barriers Conference on Saturday at Bermuda College.

The day-long forum also featured addresses by gay Bermudian Mr. Peter Carpenter, ex-Casemates Prison inmate Mr. Dennis Bean and an American wheelchair-bound aerobics instructor.

Human Affairs Minister the Hon. Jerome Dill and PLP MPs Mrs. Lois Browne Evans and Ms Renee Webb were among politicians who attended.

Mr. Gibbons made it clear in his speech he was not going to tone down his controversial opinions as a result of his arrest in connection with anonymous fliers attacking the Queen. The fliers urged a student boycott of her recent visit and called Her Majesty a "syphilitic whore''.

The student said he was "a victim of secondary and post-secondary education'' in Bermuda.

For example, he could not remember learning anything in school about positive black leaders such as Dr. E.F. Gordon and Mary Prince or about the local Black Beret Cadre.

There were efforts to "stunt the intellectual growth'' of the youth of Bermuda, he contended.

"Black people on this Island have to go through dehumanisation everyday, the youth in particular,'' he said. "I honestly believe the black youth of this Country are being bled to death.

"Everyday we have to adapt our situations because we are constantly confronted by barriers in front of us -- they are more than walls, they are like cast iron fences. They are like a vault in the Bank of Butterfield.'' Mr. Gibbons believed if blacks united they would be able to channel their anger and frustration into "a positive political revolution''.

"We need black unity and black love first,'' he said.

He added, "The youth of this Country have no desire to go out and shoot white people or throw Molotov cocktails on Front Street.'' Mr. Gibbons spoke after an emotional keynote address by Commonwealth "Eminent Person on South Africa'' Archbishop Brian Scott of Canada, and a series of workshops on discrimination.

Archbishop Scott said it was vital in the fight to end racism that everyone recognise and deal with the fact they may have racist attitudes.

"We must ask ourselves, `what part of the problem am I responsible for?','' he said.

Also among the workshop panelists was British women and prisoner's rights campaigner Dr. Susan Edwards, a domestic violence consultant to the London Metropolitan Police and the BBC World Service.

She told of deplorable conditions faced by men and women in British Prisons and of shortcomings in the British justice system.

"We send people to prison for punishment, but not to be totally degraded as a human being,'' she said.

Dr. Edwards also urged Bermuda to fight hard to keep the right to challenge a juror on law books.

The peremptory challenge had been scrapped in England because the country had not fought hard enough for it to remain, she said.

Local lawyer Ms Clare Hatcher said being an ex-prisoner in Bermuda was a "a big barrier'' that was often forgotten.

Ex-inmates who have served more than three years are excluded from a law which says former prisoners do not have to disclose past criminal offences after seven years of being free.

Ex-prisoner Mr. Dennis Bean, who spent 22 years behind bars for various offences including armed robbery, said 99 percent of former inmates "are presently sitting on walls in Bermuda or are homeless''.

He was currently without a job himself, he said.

Dr. Susan Edwards.

Mr. Jhon Gibbons.