A top race relations guru from the United States has given his backing to the Workforce Equity Bill.

Tim Wise said yesterday he understands why plans to force businesses to ensure their black employee levels reflect the racial makeup of the workforce have caused controversy.

However, in a week-long tour that will see him host talks with chief executives and HR managers from international companies, he will encourage them to view them positively.

"I understand the suspicion. I get it. I don't think any organisation likes to have someone tell them in effect they can't be trusted, but the reality is that very good people, without intention, will perpetrate policies practices and procedures that perpetuate inequality.

"That's what I'm going to be talking to the business community about in particular," he said.

"It's not this idea that they sit around in a back room with lit cigars plotting the demise of black people ... it's just that the way business is done, not just here but all over the world, tends to bring about certain outcomes that are not necessarily deliberate, not necessarily desired, but are the result of doing business the way we've always done it.

"They're the result of old boys networks for hiring and promotion, they're the result of things that are facially race neutral.

"They are not about deliberate harm but they have harmful impact."

Government has said that because blacks have been historically disadvantaged through discrimination and are still in a minority in executive positions, companies must in future promote equal employment opportunities.

The draft bill does not stipulate quotas or require employers to hire unqualified people or create new positions. However, it does require companies of 40 or more employees to reflect the racial make-up of the workforce, of which black Bermudians make up 47 percent. If passed into law it will require companies to create equity plans to boost the prospects of black Bermudians.

The Commission for Unity and Racial Equality will have the power to examine company records to monitor how employers hire fire and pay their employees. It will also be able to fine them up to $50,000 if they don't comply.

The Association of Bermuda International Companies has said it believes "punitive legislation" is not the way to achieve the desired promotion of black Bermudian executives as its members are already acting to train and promote them. Some lawyers have claimed it breaches the Constitution and the Human Rights Act.

Defending the plans, Mr. Wise said: "It doesn't mean if you don't meet that target someone gets their head lopped off and thrown in the bay.

"It means you are going to have that as a way to check your progress. You can always go back and re visit that goal, but the idea is if we don't have that then very good people will oftentimes just fall back into old patterns because they have nothing to shoot for.

"If I were a business person, once I get over the initial defensiveness I would think that having a law that gives me some structure and some guidelines and some ideas about what I need to be doing would actually help me."

Mr. Wise, who has delivered acclaimed lectures across the US, will also hold meetings and workshops with representatives from environmental groups, the church and the media during his trip, organised by Citizens Uprooting Racism in Bermuda.

He will also host two public meetings, the first of which is for whites only.

"Mr. Wise said he will encourage participants to find out more about their ancestors who fought against segregation, land confiscation and slavery. He hopes this will assuage a sense of guilt he feels impedes some whites from engaging with the topic of racial inequality.

"If we don't know who they are, if we don't know their stories then sometimes we feel as though we don't have a real role to play and I want us to talk about that," he explained.

All members of the community are invited to the second meeting, with Mr. Wise keen to explore the same theme there too. Many black Bermudians, he claimed, will never have learned to see whites as anything other than "people who stole land, murdered people, and lied about it" due to the way history is taught across the world.

• White on White: Understanding Racism and Privilege takes place tomorrow at Cathedral Hall, Hamilton, from 7 p.m to 9.30 p.m. Community Dialogue: Understanding Racism Together, is at St. Andrew's Church, Church Street on Thursday from 7 p.m until 9.30 p.m.