OH, well. I did not enjoy receiving a dressing down from Dr. Eva Hodgson in last week's Letters to the Editor column. But then I don't suppose I could ever have expected Dr. Hodgson to understand where I was coming from when I made the statement in an earlier Commentary that the "Progressive Labour Party is facing something of a dilemma in having to deal with heightened expectations on the part of its black voter base and at the same time face the reality of having to govern a multi-racial country". Unlike me, Dr. Hodgson always sees things in purely black and white terms.

I, on the other hand, recognise that the socio-economic factors at play in Bermuda are a lot more complicated and often go well beyond the simple black/white dichotomy that used to be the standard yardstick for measuring all of our problems.

For some time now it has been clear to me that Dr. Hodgson and I have distinctly different views when it comes to Bermuda's racial divide and how and where it continues to impact on us at this present moment in our history.

Simply put that difference is this: Dr. Hodgson sees herself as a victim of racism and most if not all of her comments reflect this. While from my perspective, with a free black mind, I don't consider myself a victim of racism but rather as a survivor of racism.

Although a seemingly minor semantic difference, these are in fact duelling mindsets - meaning that I am going to view things a lot differently than someone who sees herself as a victim.

Before Dr. Hodgson accuses me of declaring that racism is dead, let me state this; it is still my opinion that barring a nuclear holocaust; bring about wholesale destruction upon the peoples of the world or an environmental catastrophe having a similar effect, the greatest threat to the existence of non-white peoples on this planet remains the existence of racism. Of that I have no doubt.

But even so I have seen enough of the realities of this world and have studied enough history and economics and cultures to be able to view things with a great deal of pragmatism.

Dr. Hodgson accuses me of being "silly" or "just plain mischievous". When I stated there might have been a feeling on the part of some black people that with a Progressive Labour Party victory at the polls in '98, that - figuratively speaking - white people were going to be driven into the sea.

Dr. Hodgson is an educated person; I am taking it for granted that she knew I was speaking metaphorically. But, more importantly, she is personally familiar with this self-same mindset that exists among some of our people.

There are people who still harbour a great sense of grievance and hurt over the consequences of Bermuda's racially divided past.

However much Dr. Hodgson might think such views are unrealistic, these people were expecting the island's traditional class system to be turned on its head when the PLP took power; they expected their concerns and priorities to be reflected in a PLP Government's policies - at all cost they felt that black issues must come first.

I challenge Dr. Hodgson to deny that. Indeed, through her every statement on race is she not playing on this same sentiment. Further would it come as a surprise to her if a great many white people viewed gained the same impression from her writings on race - that her work, metaphorically, is call to have them driven into the sea?

Of course this is the dilemma that a PLP Government faces. For no matter what the consequences for black people as a result of Bermuda's past, we are bound together now - both black and white. Bermuda would surely face the same fate as Zimbabwe if, no matter how just the cause might be viewed in some quarters, we attempted in an arbitrary way to right the wrongs of the island's racial past. The PLP cannot be seen to be governing on behalf of one group and I would further state that a majority of black Bermudians would not agree to such a path being taken.

For if that was the mindset of most black Bermudians, then why didn't we embark on such a racially exclusive course 30 years ago when we first got the vote?

And why did we repeatedly help to return to power a political party with a white political support base while other black peoples around the world got rid of the old white power structures as soon as they got the Universal Franchise?

Dr. Hodgson is concerned about the influence of the rich and powerful on this Government. But name me a country where the economic powerbrokers do not attempt to court and influence the politicians? Even in South Africa the African National Congress is being lobbied and supported by industrial interests that were its blood enemies during apartheid.

Dr. Hodgson has stated that as a result of the Premier's association with the rich and powerful off-shore sector, some PLP supporters may sit the forthcoming election out - not vote at all because they are disappointed with the Government and cannot bring themselves to vote even for a "New" UBP.

I would ask what they would hope to gain by removing themselves from the political process; they cannot hope to influence its outcome one way or the other. At any rate, Dr. Hodgson's apparent disdain for the self-styled corporate kingmakers of Reinsurance Row has not stopped her from enjoying the patronage of at least one well-known white local corporate sponsor for a worthy project of her own.

Dr. Hodgson cannot have it both ways. She cannot on the one hand downplay the significance of a licence being granted to the Fresh TV station, run and owned by a young black entrepreneur, and go on to dismiss the Telecommunication Minister's "black like me" statement as so much rhetoric and generally condemn the PLP for not voicing publicly that it has a plan for black economic empowerment.

We all know that 400 years of racism has had profound economic and psychological impacts on this society in relation to black people; it cannot all be repaired overnight - or, for that matter, during the PLP's first term in Government.

In any event, there are some areas where people can help themselves - incessantly wallowing in victimhood does not always serve a useful purpose when it comes to healing the psychological scars that some black people still carry.

Even with respect to the Berkeley school project; yes the former UBP Government decided to build it and it was carried forward under a PLP Government. But who lobbied for the new school under both Governments? Yes, we all know the answer to that question: the black alumni of the Berkeley Institute and the current governors of the school and its supporters, a very powerful, very elite bloc in this community.

This introduces another of those social complexities which I spoke of at the outset. The Berkeley old boys and old girls are a formidable group - senior civil servants, lawyers, bankers, teachers. They hold great sway in this community. It would have required braver politicians than we have on either side of the House of Assembly to deny them their wish for a new school.

And even while Dr. Hodgson uses the question of Independence and the PLP failure to support sovereignty in recent years to chastise Dame Lois Browne Evans for accepting the title of Dame from the Queen, I have never heard a pro-Independence sentiment voiced by her or read a pro-Independence article carrying her by-line.

So her criticisms of the Attorney General are intellectually dishonest if she herself does not in fact support Bermudian Independence.

Many are reluctant to predict the outcome of the next election, probably because there are so many unknowns involved. But I tend to think that the result will have less to do with the issue of black economic empowerment, as important as that issue is, and more to do with people who think they and Bermuda have lost ground under a PLP Government.

Dr. Hodgson may very well have deep political differences with the current PLP Government based on her perception that they have not move on the issue of black empowerment. And that is alright. In a democracy she is entitled to her views and can freely express them.

But from my point of view "blackness" and/or racial identity is not a political ideology - nor is it a blueprint for a path to the future.

It does no good for black people to re-fight racial wars of the past based on what the white man may or may not be doing when there are new struggles before us that have far more to do with what is currently going on in our community.

Drugs. Violence. The breakdown of the family unit - these issues transcend race and need to be dealt with urgently.

But as long as people like Dr. Hodgson continue to exhume the skeletons of the past and blame them for our current woes, our own worst enemy in the end may turn out to be ourselves.