The growth of international business has strained relations between black men and black women, commentators at this week's Black Agenda 2003 forum noted.

Transport Minister Ewart Brown broadened the discussion to propose that the industry's cultural influence on Bermuda be kerbed.

"International business in my opinion should be regulated in such a way that it has the least amount of cultural imposition on Bermuda," the Minister said.

"The fact that our progression may actually be somehow correlated to the retardation of the growth of our own black men - it's a painful subject but somehow has to be explored," said Age Concern Director Claudette Fleming.

Reversing that impact was the responsibility of the black community, panellists and audience members agreed.

"I truly believe that we need to work the system," said Eugenie Simmons. "Because a set of circumstances has permitted us to hold a certain type of job and earn a certain amount of money, and our partners do not necessarily do that, that doesn't mean we have to adopt the false consciousness that comes with it. Our men are still are men. My earnings are our money, his earnings are our money and collectively we need to work the system."

Black women - far more than black men - had benefited from the growth in international business with high paying jobs, it was felt. That alienated black men from their partners and in many cases led to them seeking their role in places other than the home.

"In the corporate world the black female is progressing and the black male has been somewhat displaced," said seniors advocate Claudette Fleming.

"It's a role reversal in that the black female becomes the breadwinner and the black male is not. Yet he is expected to be a leader in his home. And so he would probably leave the home to find an identity that cannot be found in the home."

Dr. Brown said that the development "could not have been an accident". Under segregation the black community was stronger socially and economically. With integration "we neglected what we had built... we were so anxious (to mix) because we had been sold a bill of goods. We had been told that if you could only get in the same room everything would be all right," he said.

"As a friend of mine said, if you put cream in your coffee you could put so much cream you might forget you had coffee."

He praised Ms Simmons' stance as a "counter racist attitude. But first we have to understand that there is something to counter."

Turning to what later emerged as one of the central themes of discussion, he went on to say that locals are "scrambling to find what's left of what we call our Bermudian culture."

Young people's search for culture had them speaking like Jamaicans or Americans, he said. "And what happens is what I call a cultural imposition. If people come into your country and eventually become part of the fabric of the country, as human beings they are going to want to be represented in the culture and if they are dominant type people they will want to dominate the culture. So `turn your radio down', no parties at night. That wasn't an issue years ago. Noise depends on the listener. There are some things you could sing as loud as you want to at two o'clock in the morning. If you were singing God Save the Queen there wouldn't be people complaining about noise. I'm not saying it to be funny. I'm saying that international business should be regulated in such a way that it has the least amount of cultural imposition on Bermuda."

Panellists were also concerned about the high cost of living in Bermuda which has been spurred by international business and which impacts more on black Bermudians because of their economic disadvantage.

"International business is essential to our progress as a community," said Gavin Smith. But "there is nowhere in Bermuda you can rent, as a person under 30, an apartment under $1,000." He said that contributed to the "overall juvenile nature of Bermudians" because most people under 30 are still living with their parents.

"People elsewhere are living in their own homes in their teens." He called on Government to start an aggressive housing programme which would provide "low cost housing we can be proud of".

The forum was coordinated by a new organisation called the Grass roots Alliance headed up by Rolfe Commissiong.