In his keynote Labour Day address, US civil rights activist and former presidential candidate Al Sharpton urged his audience not to forget past struggles.

Like other speakers before him, Rev. Sharpton said that it was okay to have disagreements, but silence should not be an option.

He said not everyone who speaks about peace is really asking for peace.

"In my experience, most people that talk about peace just want you to be quiet. Quiet is the absence of noise, peace is the presence of justice."

And Rev. Sharpton added: "So let's have the argument, let's have the disagreement so we can stand up to the world and show real peace and real co-existence."

The Island's senior citizens had "fought battles that you didn't fight... they put you where you are.

"Don't say they can't handle this, they handled you. Don't forget where you came from because you may have to go back sooner than you think," he said.

Rev. Sharpton had struck similar themes in his address on Friday night at the Bermuda Industrial Union's annual banquet.

"Let those that are governing, govern. But those that govern must also respect those that are governed," he continued.

But he noted that "some of us cannot even govern ourselves... so be cautious, be disciplined and be careful."

He said it was important to leave a positive legacy at the end of one's life.

"The most difficult job is to preach at the funeral of an irrelevant negro," he said.

"We're supposed to get up and hallucinate a life he never lived." He said some people should not even get a funeral but should go straight to the cemetery to be buried.

"Also remember that the blood that binds us is stronger than the waters that divide us," he said.

"We did not come to power to turn on each other, we came to power to lift each other up... We're here for a reason, not just for a season."

Later Rev. Sharpton told The Royal Gazette that he had spoken to both sides of the dispute over the termination of Pro-Active Management Systems' contract to build the new senior secondary school.

"I think there are legitimate concerns on both sides and I hope they resolve it," he said.