The Premier urged white people to attend the ongoing race relations initiatives.

He made the appeal after meeting with his consultant Rolfe Commissiong, who expressed concern that the number of whites attending Bermuda Race Relations Initiative (BRRI) meetings had dropped.

Mr. Commissiong said that since March the number of white participants has fallen from 40 percent to just 10 percent.

Both men said they were concerned that a decrease in participation from either race would hurt the chances of success for the initiative. The Premier said: “I don’t want anyone to think we can’t have progress on this issue with the people who have already bravely participated.

“But our likelihood for real progress and real success will only come if all sectors of Bermuda’s diverse community participate equally.”

While Mr. Commissiong believed the initiative would work best if between 30 and 50 percent of participants were white.

He said: “The facilitators have constructed a programme that requires people to really dialogue in an open and honest way. It’s not only important that the people speaking are from different backgrounds, but it’s also critical that the people listening are racially diverse.”

The next instalment of the BRRI will take place on June 15 and 16 and will focus on media and race and will involve American and Bermudian media representatives.

People interested in attending the June meetings should contact the Community for Unity and Racial Equality (CURE) at cure@ibl.bm.