Reviewing past reports about Bermuda?s social situation leaves the reader both impressed with the insights of the authors and depressed that many of the same problems and the solutions proposed are so constant.

If some new problems have arisen, notably the violence between ?town and country? and the rise of organised gangs, the lack of affordable housing, alienated young black men, poor education, racial divisions and uneven economic opportunity were all highlighted as problems as long ago as 1968.

The same complaints were made in 1968, 1978 and in the early 1990s and are still being debated today.

Before delving into an in-depth investigation of the challenges facing young black males today, probed the 1968 Wooding Commission Report and 1978 Pitt Commission Report.

These commissions were appointed by the UK to investigate two series of destructive riots which rocked Bermuda ? the disturbances of July, 1968 and the December, 1977 riots which were sparked by protests against the hangings of Erskine (Buck) Burrows and Larry Tacklyn.

The commissioners ? foreigners and Bermudians ? attempted to be as balanced as possible. Statistics, interviews and news articles, Police reports and testimony from witnesses all shaped the final reports.

The commissioners revealed the causes which sparked the violence, but also the underlying social conditions which twice drove Bermuda to the point of violent meltdown.

Many of the findings uncovered by the commissioners as early as 1968 could describe today?s Bermuda.On a Thursday evening in 1968, a large crowd of youths stood outside of the annual Floral Pageant in Hamilton. Already overcrowded inside, a black Bermudian police officer was working the door and limited the number admitted.

Anger flashed as black teens in line looked on as white teenagers, purported to be working at the pageant, were admitted into the fair. But when an off-duty white, expatriate Police officer threw out a black youth, admitted earlier by the black officer, the crowd erupted.

After a mini-riot outside the pageant, violence and looting broke out around Hamilton. The riot continued into Friday and Saturday, when shop windows were broken and buildings set alight.

The Governor declared a state of emergency and a Royal Navy frigate was sent to the Island to maintain the peace.: The Wooding Commission highlighted that many of the black youths involved were resentful of the predominantly white and expatriate Police force which, many felt, picked on young black men.:

i) Racial conflict.

ii) Limited scope for employment of black Bermudians in a ?white economy?.

iii) The artificiality of the Bermudian society with its emphasis on holiday living and easy money.

iv) The heavy dependency upon alcohol and the increasing prevalence of drug use.

In the years prior to 1968, a series of progressive laws were swiftly introduced, undoing centuries of enforced racism. Racial segregation was dismantled, universal suffrage was finally gained and a move was made to integrate all of Bermuda?s schools. However the commission concluded that for many young blacks the changes were too few and were taking too long to really make a difference in Bermuda?s divided society.

A frustrated population of young blacks were set to blaze in anger with even the smallest spark of racial injustice, the commission concluded.

Those behind the 1968 riots were almost exclusively teenagers, the commissioners wrote. Racial tensions emanated from the deep historical divides between the races.

The Wooding Commission ?found that virtually everything in Bermudian society was viewed in racial terms?. Race defined all facets of society: relationships between the Police and blacks, the banning of ?black? publications, the disputes between political parties and the attitudes of all Bermudians.The Wooding Commission saw a need for a ?a new and true understanding, a deep conviction of the essentiality of building a single community, providing common opportunities for all and an unyielding commitment to promoting the democratic values of equality and fraternity in a society that is free in every respect?.

The commission put forward a long list of suggestions for the UBP Government of the day to achieve this objective, including:

Bermudianisation of local schools, by reducing the proportion of expatriate teachers (which, at that time, had reached 40 percent ).

?Government,? the commissioners wrote, ?should give urgent attention to the long neglected need for low-cost housing.?

The Police Service, which formed a major concern for the commissioners, needed an extensive overhaul to make it more useful in meeting the needs of the society.

Court Street, the commissioners wrote, needed a recreational centre for the area youth. ?Effective control of the premises should remain with youths of the area,? the commissioners wrote, though Government should advise on its management and fund it. Erskine (Buck) Burrows and Larry Tacklyn were scheduled to be hanged on December 2, 1977 for their involvement with shooting deaths of the Governor, his Aide de Camp, the Police Commissioner and two Shopping Centre workers between 1972 and 1973.

Mass demonstrations protested the hangings and thousands of Bermudians petitioned to stop them.

But the Government, in a last-minute session of the Court of Appeals dismissed the final appeal on behalf of the two men on the night of December 1. The Government refused to have a last-minute debate on capital punishment.

With their last efforts crushed, the demonstrators erupted outside the Supreme Court and they would rage throughout the night in the city of Hamilton and throughout the Island. Three people died that night in a fire at the Southampton Princess.

Burrows and Tacklyn were hanged in the early hours of December 2, which only pushed angry Bermudians further over the edge. For the second time, the Governor was forced to declare a state of emergency and request British military assistance.

Five hundred youths took over the Court Street Area, setting fire to the Gosling?s Warehouse and attacking shops in the area. Petrol bombs were thrown throughout the Island and Police responded with tear gas, but the commissioners noted that no looting took place.The executions sparked off the riots. However the failure of the Government to heed to the thousands of protestors capped off years of frustration among many young people.

The Progressive Labour Party took on a dynamic role as the Opposition in giving many young people a political voice.: Many involved in the riots, said ?we needed to shake up the Government?. With many black Bermudians perceiving unequal opportunities, they felt that ?rioting, though regrettable, can be a legitimate mode of protest?.

The commissioners wrote: ?Civil disorder in Bermuda during the last 13 years has functioned as a kind of extra-parliamentary political action.?

A crisis in national identity was hitting the core of Bermuda?s black male, the commissioners wrote.

Whereas his father viewed growing up in a small society and viewed himself as a subject of King George V, ?a young black man today grows up in an international society oriented towards North America; his political conceptions are influenced by racial identifications in the United States, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and elsewhere.?

Bermuda?s economic advances, the commissioners wrote, contributed to weaknesses in a young black man?s sense of identity.

Expectations of educational performance were nourished that many young people could not meet. This was more ?acute for black males than for white males or for females?, they wrote.

?It can easily cause young men to feel that in others? eyes they are failures, with the result that they seek other ways of shaping a sense of identity that will salvage their self-respect.?

In 1977, the commissioners quoted the Bermuda Association of Social Workers on ?disadvantaged youth?:

Their experience needs to be legitimated. They don?t see themselves as a problem. (They say in effect) ?We want you to recognise us for what we are.? That in itself is a reward ... They want to be recognised as being Bermudians.?

Young black males, the commissioners said, were struggling with an identity ?partially from the absence of a feeling of belonging to a distinctive national unit and partly a relative lack of success in what is now a very competitive society?.In their report on the disturbances of 1977, the Pitt Commission recommended that Bermuda seek Independence. National, or more specifically racial, unity would be attained only with a sovereign Bermuda, they said.

Additionally, the Pitt Commission suggested that Bermuda introduce a more equitable tax system, which, if necessary, may include an income tax.

?There is also an urgent need for programmes aimed at increasing the spread of Bermuda?s wealth,? the commission said.

In the family, the commission said that several Bermudians that ?discipline in the family and society has declined drastically dramatically in recent years.?

They called for more fathers and male role models to become involved in the lives of young men.

?Boys have no image or sense of direction when going to school. It is really a complete moral decay for young men in Bermuda unless the parents and few dedicated teachers are able to give them a sense of perspective,? a witness told the commission.

?Lacking job motivation and experiencing job-related frustration, some male Bermudians, particularly young black males,? they wrote, may vent their frustrations through ?anti-social behaviour?.