In the Royal Gazette dated August 9, 2006, there was a letter from Mr. Gerald Young criticising my presentation at the rally held at City Hall Early in July 2006. Mr. Young was not at the Rally but that fact certainly did not deter him from accusing me of statements I was supposed to have made that he considered to be inflammatory. The letter goes on to discuss the contents of a meeting that must have occurred in his dreams for they certainly did not occur during the "Rally at City Hall".

The meeting was called by Mr. Jonathan Starling to deal with what Mr. Pires had chosen to call a worsening of race relations as evidenced by the beating of Mr. Medeiros at the Docksiders Bar on Front Street. The selected speakers were expected to speak on ways to reverse the 'imagined' trend in the worsening race relations.

Personally, I did not believe the beating of one white man by four black men was an indication of anything other than something was said or done that provoked the violent response. We won't know exactly what provoked the attack until the men who attacked Mr. Medeiros are apprehended and tried. Yet Mr. Young, who was not present at the beating or the 'Rally at City Hall, was certain that the attack was provoked by Mr. Medeiros' exaltation at the victory of Portugal. I have heard two or three quite different explanations of the cause of the beating and for that reason I am convinced that I and others must await the actual trial to learn the truth. What I was prepared to assert when I first heard of the beating and its aftermath was that I did not believe that the beating was a reflection of worsening race relations.

Still, the comments of Mr. Young deserve review, especially since he signed his name to his letter, unlike too many Bermudians who are reluctant to attach their names to letters on controversial issues.

I believe that his comments and my response clearly indicate that there is a need to initiate formal research to explain the reasons why white and black Bermudians often differ substantially in their opinions of the same issue when race is involved. What follows is my response to the comments in his letter.

Mr. Young begins his commentary by claiming that I made inflammatory remarks at the Rally. Yet, he fails to quote these inflammatory remarks. Was it because he knew that what I did say was easily verifiable as truth even if the remarks annoyed him?

Despite the fact that the meeting was called about race relations, Mr. Young notes in his first paragraph that "Mr. Smith repeatedly refers to black versus white and not 'nation versus nation' which after all is not what the world cup is about". The rally was not about the World Cup or Mr. Medeiros for that matter. The meeting was called to hear the views of the selected speakers on how to stop the perceived deterioration of race relations which Mr. Pires had stated publicly was the case. I agreed to speak to the issue even though I did not personally believe that race relations were deteriorating.

From my perspective, I had seen enough instances of black on black violence over the past year to know that a worsening of race relations was not obviously the cause of the growing violence.

Mr. Young makes much of the importance of National pride among competitors in events in which nations compete with each other. This fact is well known and was amply demonstrated by the fight between the French and Italian players at the end of the match. However, I repeat, the World Cup was not even remotely an issue at the Rally.

Mr. Young states, "perhaps Mr. Smith can remember the 1950's (a more peaceful era)??.." It certainly was peaceful for white Bermudians because with the support of England, they completely dominated the Black majority. I am certain that Mr. Young, can recall the outrageous treatment accorded Dr. E. F. Gordon and anyone else who tried to change the social and economic oppression that existed during the so-called "more peaceful era".

He also refers to the more peaceful period as an "era of innocence." It was certainly not an era of innocence as far as black Bermudians were concerned. We were prevented from being employed in jobs we could have easily filled, could not enter any hotel or restaurant except through the back door as servants, and had a much lower share of the high-school education facilities although we represented two thirds of the school population.

Given the situation which existed, and this is easily verified, I find it difficult to understand how anyone could call the period "an age of innocence".

It was annoying to hear Mr. Young trot out the age old clich? that the Portuguese were brought here to do work that Bermudians did not want to do. In his book, "The History of the Bermuda Industrial Union", Mr. Ira Phillip points out that in 1853 Bermudian Workers staged a protest against government's plan to use taxpayers money to import white Portuguese Laborers to undercut wage rates demanded by black workers."

The Portuguese Laborers were brought here because they represented cheap labour. There was no thought of bringing them to Bermuda or anywhere else as long as there was cheap slave labour.

Mr. Young seems to think that it is a special quality of the Portuguese to work hard. I thought it was common knowledge that all immigrants work hard and do all those other grand things that Mr. Young attributes solely to the Portuguese.

I would suggest that Mr. Young and all other Bermudians who share his perception that the Portuguese have been the most successful immigrants in Bermuda, to visit the Maritime Museum at Dockyard and take a look at the names of the Bermudians whose ancestors recently arrived from the West -Indies.

Those of the readers who take this step will find a list of successful West-Indian immigrants that certainly matches any similar list of successful Portuguese.

We must remember that only Bermuda's Black population suffered the economic restrictions of slavery and segregation (surely no-one will disagree with that) than surely the beneficiaries of that cruel and unfair time should welcome an opportunity to correct that wrong by offering their assistance to worthy black businesses.

Unfortunately, the last sentence of Mr. Young's letter suggests a barely disguised contempt for the ability of Black Bermudians. He states, "Perhaps Mr. Smith would like to approach some of these well-off black Bermudians with a view to creating a fund in his name for assisting the 'not so well off' black Bermudians. He could call it the Calvin Smith Benevolent Fund."

I have reviewed the comments of myself and Mr. Young to underscore the enormous gulf between us with respect to our perspectives of Bermuda's racial situation.

From conversations with others of both major races, I have detected the same gulf. It is for this reason that I believe that it is high time that our government authorised a study of race relations in Bermuda.

I believe such a study is necessary, if we are to avoid the kind of misunderstanding and miscalculation that could easily lead to violence between groups of people with a long history of antagonism.