Bermuda is not giving young black males enough opportunities to get ahead economically, and that is why some are turning to illegitimate activities, Shadow Minister of Race Relations Jahmal Simmons said this week.

?If you look at your mother who is working two jobs and her quality of life is poor, how can I tell him to go to college and get a job if he can just go chill on the wall and make more money? I mean we are not giving enough options,? Mr. Simmons said.

?Most people are able to have the character and integrity not to fall for that. But at the end of the day if we are not creating opportunities these guys can see, they can feel, they can touch, it is going to be an uphill struggle.?

Mr. Simmons said that if the United Bermuda Party is elected to power, it will expand economic pride, create new opportunities for Bermudians and address some of the impediments towards individuals getting ahead.

?We recognise there are barriers to blacks having opportunities but we also want to make sure by breaking down those barriers we aren?t creating new barriers for other groups. We want to make sure it?s a level playing field for everyone,? he said.

As a father of two boys, Mr. Simmons hoped to be involved in Roy Wright?s study on young black men, however the Island?s two political parties did not join together on the initiative.

?In Bermuda we too often tend to not utilise the intellect and abilities of everyone to try and solve the problems. In many cases we?d rather bring in a foreign expert than work together,? he said.

Mr. Simmons agreed that young black men have faced many prejudices. ?I think we do stereotype young black males too much because if you look at the numbers most black men aren?t in jail, most black men aren?t breaking the law, most black men are working, paying their taxes, doing what they are supposed to,? said Mr. Simmons.

?So I think we spend a lot of time highlighting the people who fall beneath the cracks rather than focusing on the positive role models in our society who do exist.?

Mr. Simmons believes it is important for young black men in Bermuda to have positive male role models.

?It is very easy to fall into the belief that society doesn?t want you to have a job, that the white man will keep you down, that sort of thing. It is very easy to fall into that belief,? he stated.

?And if you don?t have somebody who can sit there and say ?look I?ve been through it, this is the path out of it, there is a way out, there is hope?, then they can sometimes become discouraged, disillusioned.?

While Mr. Simmons does not support the mega-school system, he still expressed concern about the decreasing value placed on diplomas.

?I think the question is not so much the type of model you have [but whether the degree or diploma you have has any value,? he said.

?And I think the negative publicity with the question about the standards has devalued the diploma. We need to make sure that when people graduate it is not a sense your paper means less than a person from another school.?

According to Mr. Simmons, there is a negative cycle affecting young black Bermudians and preventing them from thriving in society.

?I think part of the root of what we have is an economy being built that is not focused on benefiting Bermudians first,? he stated. ?Look at Bermuda?s history. We started out as farmers, we went to building ships, we constantly evolved and changed what we have done, but it always benefited Bermudians first.

?So you have many people right now finding it harder to enter (the field) and make ends meet because they just don?t have the options available to them ? so if you?re working two jobs, you are working harder for less pay comparatively.

?So what happens, your rents are high so you have to work harder to make the rent, you?re not there for your children, your relationships suffer, your family breaks down and you see this vicious cycle.?

Bermuda is therefore facilitating people to stay in their situations, he believes. ?It is easier to give somebody a cheque every month to pay for their rent than to put them in the position to pay the rent themselves,? said Mr. Simmons.

?I think we have become a culture which says we don?t invest in our people, and everything Bermudian is bad. We have to give people the sense that they are important in their own country and that there are options and hope in their own country.

?But the hope is dying for a lot ?But the hope is dying for a lot of people, they just don?t see a way out, and they don?t see people trying to help them [to help themselves.?

Mr. Simmons recommended that Bermuda find a third facet of the economy that can provide Bermudians with the upper hand.

?Tourism has fallen down so far that it is not a viable option for most people in terms of being able to pay your bills, and international business is out of reach for most people,? said the UBP MP.

?We have to identify what will be our next phase and how it will benefit our people first . That, I think, is critical. And right now the economy is driving us, we are not driving the economy.?

Referring to recent violence, Mr. Simmons said people have kept ?our heads in the sand for too long? about the reality that there are gangs here.

?One of the problems which isn?t stated enough is the infiltration of Jamaican gangs into Bermuda (which) is a big problem because historically what you have seen on their jurisdictions is they are more aggressive, they are more professional, I think, in terms of the drug trade,? he said.

?And it forces locals to raise their game.?

Rather than hurting our ?brother?, Mr. Simmons said Bermudians ?have to get back to seeing the value in each other, seeing the humanity in each other and begin to think of ways to lift each other up rather than tear each other down?.

So what are the solutions? According to Mr. Simmons there need to be more aggressive anti-gang programmes and financial literacy programmes in the schools. In addition Bermuda needs to increase the number of young people who go to college abroad and get degrees.

?It?s (costs) a lot. This won?t come cheap but I think we are at the stage now where we can?t afford not to spend the money,? he warned.