The Opposition was criticised yesterday for failing to show up to a two-day Government summit on race relations but leader Wayne Furbert said he will be there today.

Government Ministers, corporate brass, media executives and leaders in the Police Service were just a small sampling of the 60-plus professionals present during Monday's workshops. But the Opposition was not represented even though it got an invitation, an organiser said.

Former United Bermuda Party MP Jamahl Simmons, who quit the party and made allegations of racism, attended yesterday's session and said he had not expected to see anyone from the Opposition there. He added: "I'm disappointed, but not surprised."

But a spokesman for the UBP said Mr. Furbert did not receive an invitation to the event until Wednesday and informed the organisers that he had a scheduling conflict on the first day but would be attending the second day of the conference.

The spokesman added that the organisers told the leader of the Opposition that was fine.

He added: "Mr. Furbert looks forward to a full briefing on yesterday's session from Jamahl."

Rolfe Commissiong, Consultant to Premier Ewart Brown, is the main organiser of the series called The Bermuda Race Relations Initiative.

He says this week's summit is the first in a series of events that will take place about every six weeks between now and November.

The facilitators are Professor Robert Jensen, a white author, and Dr. Bernestine Singley, a black lawyer. Both are from the United States. About half the participants are white and half are black. They began their sessions Monday by dividing the white people into one room and the black people into another.

The two groups were reunited after about an hour.

It clearly made some uncomfortable and Dr. Singley says that's the point. She said: "Because if people are speaking from a position of comfort nothing is going to change. If we're having a conversation and you're not feeling challenged in any way then that means we'll leave it the same way we came to it. A large part of change is discomfort."

White privilege is one topic being addressed head on, and as a result, according to Dr. Singley's experiences, white participants are forced into a more uncomfortable position than black participants. She said: "That's the way it should be. One of the things I talk about is black people doing the heavy lifting of race ? historically we have.

"And we are so often thrilled to have white people show up in the room, we immediately rush to embrace them and say, 'We want you to feel as good when you leave as you did when you came'.

"Well that's not the point. The point is not to make a white person feel bad, but it is to stay engaged around race and to have white people recognise that they have more of a responsibility. One, because they have more of the privilege, and two, because historically they've not done any of the heavy lifting."

Although the groups are meeting in hotel conference rooms complete with podiums and moveable walls. Mr. Jensen is careful not to call it a conference on race. He refers to it as a dialogue.

He said: "It's called a dialogue for a reason. It's the Bermuda Race Relations Initiative and this is a dialogue.

"Conference carries with it the connotation that people are coming with answers to deliver to an audience. And Bernestine and I are very insistent that not be the framework."

The University of Texas at Austin professor explained that white people are conflicted when faced with this dialogue ? not sure whether to feel guilty or defeatist or something else.

He said: "The (white) privilege comes by virtue of our place in the society. We do not choose it. Therefore we cannot choose to give it up. We can only work within a broader movement to change the fundamental nature of society.

"It's about acknowledging the existence of it with the eventual goal of erasing it. Because when you limit white supremacy, you by definition, eliminate white privilege. And that's the goal for everyone here. One would hope that is the goal for the society generally."

The summit reconvenes today at 9:00 a.m. and wraps up at 3:30 p.m.