A visiting minorities expert has recently completed a whirl-wind two-day visit to Bermuda in hopes of erasing the colour lines of an often stereotyped, overlooked and ostracised segment of the community -- the black man.

Linbert Spencer, the minority ethnic liaison officer for the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, was in Bermuda earlier this week to help increase the chances of black Bermudian men leaving their footprints in the Island's corridors of power.

Mr. Spencer, who is currently trying to help the FCO recruit more minorities into diplomatic service, spent countless hours speaking to locals in a bid to compile research on the plight of black Bermudian men.

"What I have been hearing from people are some of the barriers that stand in the way of future development, like drugs, getting better access to International business sector, a lack of role models for young Bermudian men and almost a crisis amongst black Bermudian men.

"Those are just some of the things I have been hearing about which seem to be key concerns that people have been trying to address.'' Mr. Spencer, who hails from Jamaica, was speaking after meetings and appointments with individuals who have daily contact with young black men in Bermuda.

And prior to his Tuesday departure for England, Mr. Spencer briefed Cabinet about his findings.

Explaining the plight of the black man to anyone who is not one is a difficult task. For no one can completely understand what it is like to be stereotypes, shunned and misunderstood solely because of the colour of your skin and their gender.

One may argue that black women may have special insight into the problems of their male counterparts but no one knows the real deal except black men.

But Mr. Spencer attempted to give the rest of the public an insight into a problem which is far from black and white.

"There are two elements -- one is not unique to Bermuda but is a general issue probably everywhere, it goes back to the sexual revolution,'' he explained. "Women became much more emancipated and in control of what who they were, what they could choose and the choices they had in their life.

"Society as a whole invested quite a lot in helping women to understand how they could have more choice and do different things and we are still doing that and I think that that is great and we should do that.

"But what we have not done is to help the men, any man be they black or white, adjust to this and cope with it. How do you become a new man in this society? How can you be a strong father who is bold, in control and being in charge while at the same time leaving space for the woman in your life to express herself? "Nobody has helped guide men about how to deal with that. And this is a general issue for all men, but it is a big issue for African and Afro-Caribbean men, especially those who live in societies where the white community has traditionally been in power even if the black community has been in the majority.

"It is particularly acute in societies like Bermuda, England, the US and Canada because the black male also had the issue of how to become much more assertive in a white-dominated society, how to deal with that and what that called on him to be.'' Mr. Spencer also pointed out that education further perpetuated the problem for black males.

"Along-side that, education and academic attainment has never been part of the history of black men,'' he said. "We have never been pushed forward academically -- certainly not in the way the black woman has.

"For black men, the route out has generally been through sport or music and in more recent times through activities that are less than legal.'' Mr. Spencer said that the negative images of black men helped to magnify their minor mistakes into a collapse of self-confidence.

"The way in which black men are stereotyped by those in enforcement or power leads to black men often being feared or perceived as being dangerous and if not dangerous then lazy or not able to achieve very much,'' he explained.

"And it can be easy to actually just go along with that because clearly everybody makes a mistake now and again and if every time you make a mistake you feel as though that is simply just a reinforcement of your fundamental lack of ability to achieve anything, it doesn't take much to totally knock your self-confidence.

"You then start to think about dropping out of mainstream society and find other ways of becoming the big man.'' How does society begin to address these issues? How do we help black men? According to Mr. Spencer, support from wives, parents and the community as a whole can make a difference.

However, all the support in the world can only do so much -- it is still only the black man who must shoulder the burdens placed upon him by virtue of his birth.

Mr. Spencer urged local black men to keep in mind that things could be worse -- they could be living in a society where they are in the minority, not the majority.

"In a society where you are 60 percent, it is a hell of a lot easier than in a society where you are only six percent,'' he pointed out. "I'm speaking out of experience here rather than anything else.

"Secondly, take responsibility and not allow the things that come at you to determine your response to those things.'' He said that it although it was easy to respond badly to something that has gone wrong, it was much better to take the high road.

"If someone is giving you a bad time in terms of race or discrimination and you give them a bad time back -- well that is a complete and utter waste of energy.

"Don't get angry, get on with it.'' And for those facing problems getting ahead in their careers, Mr. Spencer said there were two options available.

"You either do more in order to move forward and one motto I follow is `if you want to get paid more for what you do, do more than what you get paid for','' he advised. "Unfortunately for some of us in some societies we have to do twice as much as the next guy in order to get recognised.

"The second choice is go somewhere else. You do have the choice to check out some other organisations or employer. More and more organisations are looking for people who can do the job instead of being driven by race or gender.'' Mr. Spencer also had some tips for men looking to get their foot into the door with international business.

"Black guys, learn to type, get keyboard skills and get into administration and clerical work as a starting point,'' he said. "That's how a lot of black women have got their foot in the door. You don't start by being a vice president or being a manager.

"And sometimes I think black male pride gets in the way of getting access. Do whatever it takes and once you're in make yourself indispensable.'' To bolster their efforts, Mr. Spencer urged wives to support their black husbands and boost their confidence.

"Spouses can look for ways to supporting and `talking up' their partners,'' he explained. "They can help their partners to feel good about who they are and encourage them to get engaged with life-long learning.'' And Mr. Spencer insisted that learning did not necessarily mean enrolling in formal education.

"It doesn't have to be about taking degrees, although that is not a bad idea,'' he stressed. "I think that there is a need for there to be much more engagement with personal development, seeking to understand more about who you are and finding ways of learning something new.

"It doesn't have to be on a daily or weekly basis,'' he added. "Learn a new sport every year or take on a new activity -- just keep your mind active.'' Meanwhile, parents of young boys should strive to be positive role models and lavish their children with praise.

"Talk them up in terms of what they can do and achieve,'' insisted the father of two. "When they do things wrong, talk about the things they have done wrong rather than of them being bad.

"When they do things well, talk about them being great -- tell them that they are brilliant, unique and valuable. Those are things that we believe about our children but we don't always express it.

"We need to express that more and more, especially with male children because black male children will be facing stuff in society that will consistently put them down.'' And Mr. Spencer said that the old adage, `it takes a village to raise a child', still held true -- the community has a significant role to play in helping to raise confident black men.

"In a relatively close and small society like Bermuda, I think that there is a lot of potential for that,'' he said. "If there was a greater sense of communal responsibility for the well-being and development of the children than that would go a long way.'' But he admitted that changing people's mindset from a short-term, capitalistic view would not be easy.

"I suspect that if we don't begin to do that, not just in Bermuda but elsewhere, than the future does not look well, especially for black society,'' he added. "We have to find ways of taking on more communal responsibility for child rearing, especially where parents are working long hours to maintain the family.'' LINBERT SPENCER