Dear Sir,

The Premier speaks to the black community about “unity”. But how can he expect unity with a community that has been made to suffer from the deep racial divide imposed on it, with the resulting economic and employment disparities that are a direct result of the very deliberate and purposeful policies of segregation imposed by previous white-supported governments and its supporters — to say nothing of the thousands of white immigrants brought in to “whiten” Bermuda and to diminish and demean the black community and its role in our society?

If he is serious, he needs to begin by publicly acknowledging this fact and by challenging his supporters who deny the long-term impact of those racist policies and who abuse blacks in very racist terms.

Then he needs to introduce policies to address these economic and employment disparities that are just as intentional and purposeful as those that were deliberately and intentionally meant to exclude and harm us as blacks.

He has the Pitt, Wooding and other reports to begin with.

Until he does these two things and does them before any discussion about “justice” for the foreigners in our midst — we suffered from the injustices of segregation long before these foreigners arrived and little thought was given to our “human rights” — his talk about “unity” is just that; talk and dishonest rhetoric intended to continue to delude black Bermudians.

EVA N. HODGSON