Race activist Eva Hodgson has reissued a challenge to the United Bermuda Party to publicly acknowledge that whites were responsible for segregation and still benefit from its long-term effects.

The founder of the National Association for Reconciliation called on the Opposition more than a year ago to take out large-scale adverts and send letters to its members detailing the origins of slavery and segregation.

Historian and author Dr. Hodgson says now that her challenge still stands — and claims such actions are the only way the party can prove it is committed to unity on the Island.

But Gina Spence-Farmer, Shadow Minister for Community, Cultural Affairs and Race Relations, told The Royal Gazette yesterday she was more interested in the idea of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as called for last year by PLP backbencher Renee Webb and earlier this year by retiring Anglican Bishop Ewen Ratteray.

Senator Spence-Farmer said: "There has to be forgiveness. It's a call to action for everyone. In order for it to work, everybody has to participate."

Dr. Hodgson said she believed her suggestion would allow the UBP to move on in the wake of public accusations of racism within the party from former members such as Jamahl Simmons and Gwyneth Rawlins.

"The UBP can, at this moment, make a difference by sending out a letter to all of their members reminding them of how and when segregation began," said Dr. Hodgson. "The UBP has never done what Ewart Brown has tried to do in terms of having people have a conversation about racism. Until the PLP came to power, white people pretty much ignored black people unless there was a riot or something.

"If the UBP really cared about black people's condition, they would be insisting that they constantly talked about the issue."

She added: "The UBP has a responsibility to address the issue among their white constituency and it hasn't done it. All the rest it is saying about housing and education — it's irrelevant. Our housing and our bad schooling are aggravated by the racial divide."

Sen. Spence-Farmer said it was wrong to suggest the UBP was not taking action to promote racial harmony. But she said a commission would be a much more positive step than letters and adverts attributing blame.

"There is so much talk about the injustice, which I think is wonderful, but I think it's a lot harder to come up with a solution. I think most people would like to get to a place where there is an end result."