A black Premier has called upon us to think about Independence. At the moment the majority of black people are not very interested in Independence.

Nevertheless that should not prevent us from thinking about nation-building. Certainly those who are desirous of Independence should also be thinking about nation building and the kind of Nation we would like to have when we do become Independent, even if it is in the far distant future.

It is important for us as a black community to accept that the kind of nation that we do create will depend almost entirely on us, not only because we have what is, to all intents and purposes, a black Government but because we are in the vast majority.

It has always been so. If we as blacks had been an aggressive community and responding to injustice with anger, rage or violence we would not have earned the reputation as a friendly tourist destination. Our collective commitment to Christian teaching was not irrelevant.

We are still responsible for the kind of society we currently have, despite the enormous significance of those with the economic power. Currently it is the kind of society that is fraught with challenges, challenges that pervade the black community from a failing educational system to deep social divisions.

We are deeply divided politically by those who are high flyers and newsmakers, those who determine the ethos of the society, and equally deeply divided by town and country gangs, those who see themselves as the disadvantaged.

Some of the most bitter and vicious attacks on the Talk Shows are by blacks against other blacks. Our educational system which is failing is run by blacks for other blacks. Too many of the rest of us are concerned only about our own individual affairs and are indifferent to the challenges that are facing our society.

Too often we justify our selfishness and divisiveness with the European concept of "class" because we have been fortunate enough to acquire more education and a higher salary than others. That is absurd.

It is absurd not only because we are but a few generations from slavery but because when, with hard work and business acumen, we earn a place in the "business class" our children and grandchildren still often once again become wage earners. Moreover, to validate the European concept of "class" is to reinforce and validate the European philosophy of racism.

The result of our divisiveness, selfishness and lack of respect for each other is that we are too often turning to more "foreign experts" than is necessary to address our challenges, solve our problems and paying them thousands of dollars when we are the only ones who will solve the problems if they are ever solved.

It was not always so.

When we were a segregated community and those with economic power overtly excluded us, we were politically united in challenging the barriers of exclusion and injustice. When we were told, first as slaves, that we were too inferior to be educated, and then that we only needed enough education to serve our superiors, we taught ourselves and learned anyway.

We imported teachers from the Caribbean to teach us when we could not teach ourselves. Our forefathers struggled and sacrificed for decades to build the Berkeley Institute and then Sandys Secondary so that we could aspire to a higher education than merely enough to serve our masters. More than that we not only competed with, but often surpassed, the results of Saltus Grammar.

What went wrong? When the official barriers of Government sponsored segregation and economic exclusion were finally broken down, why did we, as a black Community, fall apart and turn on each other?

It is because despite our struggles and successes we had internalised the philosophy of racism which was the very foundation of the society in which we lived. We had come to believe what whites believed.

White was right. They must be, they had all of the wealth, the wealth which we desired and felt that we deserved because we had been so long denied. Some of us have acquired some of that wealth which whites have and with it their sense of individualism.

In the process we have lost our sense of responsibility to the rest of the black community and the continued need to strive for a more just society; the one thing that had brought thus far. Others are struggling to acquire that wealth and have no time for anything else, or anyone else.

Most of us realise that we will never acquire it, and having internalised the same racism, are more angry with those blacks who have deserted us and turned their backs on the black community than we have ever been with whites.

But none of us, or few of us, are addressing the racism which we have all internalised regardless of where we are in the social strata.

Most of us are well aware of the white racism which has been so destructive to this society. Many of us have attempted to address it and the long term impact which it has on this society.

But some of us have come to understand that because of post-traumatic slave syndrome and because God visits the sins of the Fathers unto the third and fourth generation, there can never be healing between the races until the white community, as a community and collectively, are prepared to do as the Australians have done and take responsibility for our racial divide and ask for forgiveness.

We, as a black community, cannot wait for that. We must begin to heal ourselves of the racism which we have internalised and which has been as destructive to us as white racism. We must heal the deep divisions which it has created within the black community.

There are those who are attempting to address some of our challenges: Big Brothers and Big Sisters, The Mirrors programme, Boys Out and others.

But none of them are necessarily examining the full implications of our internalised racism. Just as whites have a challenge in facing their racism and its full implication, we, as blacks, will find that we too are challenged when told to face the racism which we have internalised and all of its implications.

Each of us in the black community have value and have a purpose. We can each make a contribution to our community, no matter how small. Let us value ourselves enough to find what that contribution is and make it.

We cannot build a healthy society, and certainly not a healthy nation until we, as a black community, have a healthy view of ourselves and each other and respect each other accordingly.

The National Association for Reconciliation would like to contribute towards this effort by inviting all within the black community (whites are not excluded ) to join us in viewing the DVD lecture by Dr. Joy Leary on Post-traumatic Slave Syndrome and then finding time to discuss the issues which it raises.

Those who believe that we must heal our own deep divisions and examine our own internalised racism are invited to join us in ongoing discussions.

Such discussions might help us to see how to meet the challenges which our divisiveness has caused and the problems which we have created by turning our backs on each other, and the values which we once held, and becoming concerned with only our own individual acquisition of wealth.

While the acquisition of wealth is important, we were, in many ways, a healthier community when we had none, and knew that ultimately we were dependent on God for relief.

We also always need to remember that most of us will never acquire wealth but we still have value and we still have a contribution to make and need to be valued and respected accordingly.