Claims by Julian Hall last week that the United Bermuda Party was formed to perpetuate white supremacy do not stand up when UBP's record in government is scrutinised, says the Shadow Minister of Finance.

I am sick and tired of PLP operatives trying to rewrite and corrupt Bermudian history as it relates to the many good things that the United Bermuda Party achieved during its time in government.

Here is the fiction they would have unsuspecting Bermudians believe.

Let's start with the desegregation of schools. They would have us believe that a white supremacist UBP government fought for and succeeded in desegregating Bermuda schools. Sir Henry Tucker and Sir Edward Richards (a white man and a black man, who was also my father) went into a PTA meeting of white racists of one of the holdout schools that had already refused the Government instructions to desegregate. Unlike Warwick Academy, these schools had told the government: "We don't need your stinking money we'll do what we want," or words to that effect. In the face of all manner of abuse in the process, these men faced down these people, and by force of will and law forced those recalcitrant schools to admit black children.

It was the white supremacist UBP government that outlawed, "Racism beyond the grave," whereby wills and legacies prescribed the deceased's assets could only benefit whites after they were gone.

Mr. Hall will remember, as do I, the squalid and unsanitary conditions that existed in the neighbourhood surrounding Central School which we both attended. Those were conditions you can now only see in the worst areas of third world Caribbean countries, but that was Bermuda in the early 1960s. It was an entirely black neighbourhood. But it was the white supremacist UBP government that cleaned that area up and supplied affordable housing that enabled those residents to live in dignity.

Moreover, it was the white supremacist UBP government that provided the opportunity through Government housing to enable thousands of black families, all over this Island, to become home owners, to own a piece of the Rock.

It was the white supremacist UBP government that, in the 1970s, initiated a social insurance scheme so that, not just white people, but all Bermudians, including thousands and thousands of blacks, to have some sort of pension when they retired. For, as white supremacists, they thought this action would mostly somehow benefit whites who, on average, already had sufficient wealth to provide for their golden years. The white supremacist UBP government totally ignored the fact that this action would mostly benefit blacks who were on the lower end of the economic scale and were most vulnerable after retirement.

It was the white supremacist UBP government that engaged in, what we could now recognise as, an affirmative action program, in the Civil Service itself. Because when the UBP took over the government there were very few blacks in junior, middle or senior management positions in the Civil Service. The racist UBP regime aggressively recruited qualified blacks, some working overseas, in some cases knowing full well that they were PLP supporters. Now the Civil Service is almost entirely black.

The white supremacist UBP hugely increased the number and value of scholarships, bursaries and student loans available to bright black children who did not have the financial means to study abroad. Moreover it was the racist UBP that started the Bermuda College to help better prepare young people, predominantly black, and mature students, in training for the hospitality industry and later on in international business.

Then to prove they cared only about white privilege, they launched two studies investigating institutional racism in Bermuda, one by Professor Clark the other by Professor Swain. The upshot was the creation of the Commission for Unity and Racial Equality (CURE) set up to gather statistical data to gain clarity on the problem.

Then this white supremacist UBP government had the temerity to enact the Human Rights Act to formally prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, and then established the Human Rights Commission to investigate and handle complaints.

Of course it was the white supremacist UBP government that unified the two previously racially separated military units, the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps and the Bermuda Militia Artillery, into the Bermuda Regiment, and set into motion the commissioning of a string of black commanding officers.

Let the people judge for themselves if these are actions consistent with a white supremacist government.