I WOULD like to further address Bermuda Sun columnist Larry Burchall's position on the question of Bermuda's current status as a British Overseas Territory. As I mentioned in a recent Commentary, Mr. Burchall — like many other Bermudians — seems to have adopted what could be called a If-it's-Not-Broken-Don't-Fix-It position on Bermudian sovereignty.

But let me pose the following question: "If you are going to blow out a candle, do you wait until it begins to flicker?" As regards Bermuda's current constitutional status, it is my intention to help blow this particular candle out right now and to do my part in creating a new reality — helping to bring about the birth of a nation, a Bermudian nation, a new rainbow nation, if you like, in the middle of the Atlantic.

Let me make one thing abundantly clear — when I call for the creation of a nation, it is not a black nation that I am calling for. This nation is going to be made up of black Bermudians, white Bermudians, Portuguese Bermudians, even Asian Bermudians, linked to this country through marriage and children who are of mixed Bermudian/Asian heritage who were born in this country and who will grow up Bermudian.

Mr. Burchall, in his recent Sun column headlined Flags and Respect, said: "It's time for us all to take a stand."

I don't know what kind of stand he is referring to. The world may recognise the current flag as Bermuda's flag — but I say it is time for the world to recognise the people living in this country, who are not all British, as a people in their own right.

Mr. Burchall seems to doubt that I have a proper understanding of national symbols when it comes to Independent countries and the paths they took to attain nationhood. I am glad he brought out the question of the national flag of the African nation of Kenya with its red, black and green colours and white trims and two crossed spears behind a shield.

I will tell you what that flag means. Black stands for the African people; white symbolises peace; black, red and green are the African liberation colours used during the war against the British, denoting Africa's rebirth (red represents the blood common to all people, green recalls the fertile land). The African shield and spears are a common symbols of Africa.

It is for that reason that on the back of my car I had painted the same symbol of a shield and crossed spears. How much respect do I have for the national symbols of another country? In my apartment I have a shrine of sorts — an African shrine made up of art and artefacts that I brought back from my trip to Africa.

They include a West African hat; a sand painting of the continent of Africa, with an African woman pounding sorghum (or millet) into cereal; a replica of the golden stool of the kings of Ghana which was a symbol of their power and rule, as well as the symbol of the nation's soul and unity.

The replica, by the way, I bartered for with from an African trader. I gave him a raincoat I had brought from Bermuda and he gave me the stool in exchange. On the top of the stool, I placed the flag of Ghana with the Pan African colours of red, yellow and green, which has at its centre a black star known as the Lodestar of African Freedom.

Ghana was the first black African country to gain Independence from British rule in 1957. And one day the flag of an Independent Bermuda will be placed alongside the flag of Ghana in that place of honour.

I well understand the role of national symbols and thought the words I had written about Bermuda's current condition as a culturally "torn" country demonstrated I am ready to join in the healing that the birth of an Independent country will help to bring about.

By way of contrast, Mr. Burchall himself doesn't seem to be clear on the unifying role of national symbols. On the one hand he is upset over the ignorance of Bermudians in not respecting the national symbols of other countries, on the other he calls the flag of other nations pieces of coloured cloth. ONE<$> suspects that what Mr. Burchall is really upset about is the lack of respect among Bermudians for the island's current flag — which, as I have already stated, does not speak to me as a Bermudian because it does not recognise me. As long as that remains the case, then I will have no feeling for Bermuda's current flag and the country, from my perspective, will remain a "torn" country.It is interesting that Mr. Burchall states that he does not understand my position and thinks I don't recognise Bermuda's current flag for racial reasons. Let me address this misconception.

It might surprise him (and other anti-Independence types), that with respect to the depiction of the wreck of the Sea Venture remaining on a new Bermuda flag, I would have no objections.

Because, even if black people were not on the Sea Venture, the beginning of permanent human settlement in Bermuda began with that shipwreck in 1609. With respect to the Queen remaining an Independent Bermuda's symbolic head of state, I will not make an issue over that.

I am prepared to let another generation decide. When I look at the Jamaican coat of arms, even with the reality of Jamaica being a country which has long boasted a black majority population, it retains the image of the long extinct native Carib Indians who originally inhabited that island nation along with motto: "Out of many, one people."

The Caribbean had a native Indian population living there long before the coming of the white man and the bringing in of African slaves whose descendants now form the majority population in the region.

Mr. Burchall remarks in passing that nations do in fact change their flags from time to time — which actually buttresses my original argument that national symbols should be inclusive of all peoples in a country.

For instance, Canada adopted its new Maple Leaf flag in 1965 and discarded the old Union Jack ensign precisely because Francophone Canadians did not feel the British symbolism extended to them. South Africa changed its flag at the end of the apartheid era. Why? To introduce national symbols that better represented all of the peoples who make up the South African population — not just those of Boer descent.

The American flag has never been altered since Independence because it does represent all of that country's peoples regardless of race or ethnic origins.

This is what the American flag means: red stands for hardiness and valour, white signifies purity and innocence and blue represents vigilance, perseverance and justice and the stars represents the states that make up the United States of America.

No, Mr. Burchall, I will not change my position on the need for new national symbols for Bermuda. And, yes, that means it is time to take a firm stand on the creation of an Independent Bermudian nation.