Officials at Tucker’s Point Club have hit back over criticism that unmarked graves were being desecrated and poorly maintained.

Last week, a group taking part in a Bermuda Race Relations Initiative (BRRI) tour of Tucker’s Town visited a gravesite, in the middle of the golf-course, which is the final resting place of displaced blacks who owned the land until the 1920s.

Members of the group claimed golf balls could be seen around the graves which were untended.

However, Peter Parker, the club’s executive vice president, denied claims that the graves were being desecrated and poorly maintained.

He said: “I am rather disappointed that some people have chosen to take this tone.

“I understand the emotional aspect of this. There is a long history and most people know that the Government of the day, in the 1920s, entered into agreements with most of the inhabitants.

“I respect the controversy over whether or not it was the right thing to do — but that was in the 1920s and more than 80 years have gone by.

“When I came to Tucker’s Point in 1988, the gravesite was in a horrendous state and we got together with Marsden Church and we agreed to pay for all the renovations.

“Before I arrived, no one, neither the church or descendants of the people buried there, made an attempt to clean the area up and put up the head stone.

“We have attempted to be extremely sensitive to that property and I don’t know what else we can do.

“We fixed all of the tops of the graves and put a gate on it and every year we have a service down there, for the Marsden Church, which originally used it as a cemetery.”

Mr. Parker cited a study by a Canadian professor that came to Bermuda many years ago and interviewed “hundreds” of people that benefited from the sale of the land.

He explained: “I know several families who will tell you that moving out of Tucker’s Town was the best thing that ever happened to them because they were given money that led them to success.

“The people who ultimately benefited from that whole incident in the 1920s when the 500 acres of Tucker’s Town was purchased, was a result of a tribunal that offered fair prices for the land.

“Bermuda was the ultimate beneficiary of that transaction, because that’s what started Bermuda in the tourism industry.”

When asked to respond to arguments that the land-grab displaced a thriving, black community, he continued: “It was not all black people that were down here.

“I don’t know it was exactly a ‘majority’ black community. There were lots of black people but I don’t know the proportion, but there were lots of white people too.

“Race is not the issue. The fact is the country benefited from the ultimate decision by the Government of the day that paved the way for tourism.”

He flatly denied golfers use the cemetery as a putting location. “Because it’s on a golf course, golf balls go everywhere,” he added.

“They cannot play golf in that location. They’re only allowed to go into the cemetery to retrieve golf balls.”

Rolfe Commissiong, the main organiser of the BRRI and consultant to the Premier, condemned Mr. Parker’s comments, saying his beliefs are the reason why Bermuda needs an honest discussion on race.

“One can assume that the views — particularly of the white people in Bermuda, would be quite different because of the level of indifference blacks received in general.

“Many whites have always used the tourism argument to sell their conscience.

“And, by him rebutting knowledge of evidence that the area was overwhelmingly black shows his woeful ignorance of Bermudian history.

“The legislation used back then to acquire the land was dubious. There were only a very small percentage of whites.

“His statement saying some blacks actually benefited because they received money for the sale ‘which helped them live a better life’, well, I’m not even going to dignify that statement with a response.

“However, Mr. Parker is always welcome to join us in the BRRI down there — that’s if he’s willing to come out of his virtually white-only comfort zone.”