When lawyer and Progressive Labour Party sympathiser Wendell Hollis walks around town, black people he doesn't even know laud him in the street. But when he cycles in the morning, unrecognisable in his sports gear or rides his motorbike with a full face helmet, he is subject to abuse from that same racial group, though he's doing nothing wrong.

They are symptoms, he believes, of both the progress and the lingering problems Bermuda is still grappling with decades after formal segregation ended. Mr. Hollis, once of the United Bermuda Party, recalled making a speech in the Senate in 1993 about the lack of social integration in all aspects of Bermuda life, from weddings and funerals to even where people parked their car during the work day.

"Fifteen years on, not very much has changed."

But he is prepared to help move things along and has joined the steering committee of the Bermuda Race Relations Initiative (BRRI) or Big Conversation. The issues of race and politics have long been intertwined — now perhaps to Bermuda's benefit, said Mr. Hollis, who believes December 18 was a wake-up call to whites.

"After the election there was a sense of alienation but I honestly believe the feeling among the white community of feeling battered and bruised is a catalyst to move the situation on."

He said a UBP victory would have lulled whites into thinking everything was fine and further change wasn't necessary. "I don't think there would have been any significant reaching out from the white community to the black community. Leading up to the election, because I was seen as a vocal supporter of the PLP I did receive a significant amount of social alienation.

"But after the election I got the feeling from the white community that they were pleased to see me involved with the PLP and that they would like to be more involved in bridging the racial gap."

With a foot in both camps, Mr. Hollis traverses that divide every day. "Since I have become known as a supporter of the Government, who is working with them... I have such a sense of belonging to Bermuda and the warmth with which I have been received in the black community has really touched me.

"This is a transition because when I first went to certain 'all black' events I perceived a sense of 'so what is he doing here?' But now I find myself extremely warmly received. But where I feel it even more is when I walk around town and black people I don't even know speak to me, call me by name. They couldn't be more friendly.

"Now compare it to something else, which leads me to understand how others can have a bad feeling. I ride a motorcycle with a face mask where you can't see my face and, for exercise, I ride a pedal bike and when I am in those two modes people can't recognise me but they can see that I am white.

"And I have to say that I have had certain remarks and comments made to me which I only believe are made to me by blacks because I am white.

"I very much regret that happens. But it has. I don't know whether it is because I am white or because in the case of the pedal bike it tends to be a sport that mostly white non-Bermudians do.

"Just this morning somebody beeped and told me to 'get off the road' when I wasn't doing anything wrong. I do understand there are problems like that. I don't condone any of that behaviour and I think that there is a learning curve that needs to happen on both sides of the racial equation.

"But what I would say to fellow whites that if they reach out and show willingness to be involved they will be warmly received in the black community and the black community is very receptive to that."

He said it was time whites learned more about blacks as blacks already knew much about whites.

There are signs of progress — Cup Match is more integrated while the PGA golf event and the music festival also boasted racially mixed crowds. "We have achieved a lot and we do have the potential to achieve far more."

As the Big Conversation continues in 2008, whites are getting mixed messages about what sort of the reception they will get. The Premier continually says people may feel uncomfortable.

Businessman Jim Butterfield described the process as like having his 'arms and legs ripped off' but Mr. Hollis said his golf partner Cummings Zuill, from an old conservative white family, never saw it that way. "He went through the whole thing and I think he came out a far better person."

But Mr. Hollis accepts a number of whites found it the same as Mr. Butterfield — hence white participation had dropped from 75 percent to about 20 percent. The talking must continue, says Mr. Hollis, who likes to compare Bermuda to South Africa, arguing the two differed little in the 1950s even though there was no formal apartheid here.

"We went through an evolutionary process in the 1960s where we effectively tried to get rid of that situation. Some people will argue we achieved it on the surface but that we didn't achieve it beneath the surface and some people will argue that South Africa has actually achieved it far more below the surface now since they officially got rid of apartheid than we have and that on an evolutionary basis we still have a way to go."

Mr. Hollis said the truth and reconciliation hearings in South Africa were far more draconian than Bermuda's Big Conversation which was a first attempt to achieve the same goals in a gentler way. He said the majority of the BRRI advisory group were black. "And I really get a sense that there is a real desire on their part to resolve the problem in a way to makes whites comfortable. They do understand there is discomfort among certain whites in the community.

"Unfortunately I don't believe at this stage the extremes on the white or the black community are going to be attending the Big Conversation meetings or any of the other initiatives that are going on. The guy who shouted at me this morning — I am certain he is not going to go to any of these meetings."

Similarly racist whites were unlikely to attend, said Mr. Hollis. "What we have to do is create an environment where people feel it is inappropriate to behave in that way."

But Mr. Hollis said whites should expect criticism given the history of the race in Bermuda while it was natural blacks would be resentful. "So one would expect some of the outcomes that occurred."

He recognises many whites don't see why they should show up to get lambasted over the 'sins of their fathers' — or someone else's fathers but he doesn't think it's a fair way to look at it.

The argument that the playing field was level now didn't hold, said Mr. Hollis as the majority of blacks were economically disadvantaged as a result of all that has gone on. "There is no question that there are a number of whites who are as economically disadvantaged as many blacks."

But generally those who held the majority of the wealth were whites because of the history. "To say we are beyond the history is being less than honest about it."

Mr. Hollis never went to any of the Big Conversation events but has watched a number of them on TV. And his idea for lunches for businessmen to discuss race was leapt upon by race relations advisor Rolffe Commisiong who asked him to join the BRRI advisory group.

A lunch at Mr. Hollis' law firm last week saw four wealthy whites and four wealthy blacks from varying backgrounds come together — the blacks were all self-made and as well off as the whites.

All eight found race was not an issue for their lives now. But the blacks could remember when they had been disadvantaged in the past, with one remembering how his mother had been fired as a maid by a prominent white family for using a bathroom from which she was barred.

The old economically privileged white Bermudian families are no longer the top of the pile now international business was so well established, said Mr. Hollis.

"You now have so many super rich whites who are in the international community. If you go to a typical exempt company, you will find almost all the executives are white and the middle management and support staff is black so that will further compound the problems."

He believes the Big Conversation was a good start and had raised the level of consciousness about the subject of race but the smaller lunches would be more 'hands on and friendly' in a bid to find common ground.

"In the event that we had a matter of significant national importance these groups could reconvene, now knowing each other well, to discuss the issue effectively on a non-partisan basis and come up with some ideas. That in itself is a worthwhile goal and could create another asset in our community."

Asked whether real change in the lives of blacks would be more likely to come via social programmes rather than conversations with whites, Mr. Hollis said: "The way forward is obviously economic empowerment for blacks, that comes through improved economic opportunities, education and social facilities."

He said the PLP was moving toward that with free day care to allow moms to go out to work.

"The Ministry of Education has indicated they are working on significant improvements to the scholarship programme."

But he said education and health had deep-seated problems. "I believe that, perhaps somewhat naively, the PLP took over the Government in 1998 believing these things had been well managed and well designed in the past and their job was to carry on and make sure they didn't fall off the table.

"What they have found now is, in certain areas, there were some very fatal flaws. They have at least had the courage to say 'OK we need to fix both of these areas'."

Mr. Hollis, who is Bermuda Hospitals Board deputy chairman, said significant changes had been made in health and far more significant changes would follow. Education is also being tackled.

"It is hard not to say that they inherited a system which was probably inherently broken."

Some people have blamed the two parties for exacerbating the racial divide but it is not a theory Mr. Hollis gives credence to as he says outside of the Chamber MPs have struck up friendships across the party divide.

It was something he did during his brief stint in the Senate. He now lists as friends PLP politicians Nelson Bascome, Derrick Burgess, former schoolmate Dale Butler, El James and particularly David Burch who served alongside him for a number of years in the Bermuda Regiment which has formed a large part in his life.

Mr. Hollis left the UBP in 1994 because he disagreed with John Swan's stance over Independence.

He said he had never intended to get involved in politics and had vowed to stay independent even though he is happy to help Premier Brown — a friend Mr. Hollis is fond of quoting.

Whites friends of Mr. Hollis have told him they felt the Premier was anti-white.

"But I don't detect any resentment — or anything other than friendship from the Premier. I know a number of other white people who feel the same way."

Asked how he had traversed the racial divide when others had failed, Mr. Hollis said: "I think it is because of my upbringing. I didn't come from a privileged background. I grew up on a farm and I went to public schools all of my life."

In his last year at Whitney, the school integrated while Saltus was still a public school when he was there. During those studies he struck up a good friendship with the school's first black teacher — Randy Benjamin.

Friendships were also forged with black Bermudians during further education and training in England. But perhaps most influential in this process was the Bermuda Regiment. "I would argue the Regiment is the most significant force for integration that we have in Bermuda."

If conscription, which only takes a minority of males each year, is the only way Bermudians can be made to mix then it might sound like an argument for the radical reintegration of the school system which, via private schooling, has seen the races separate.

But Mr. Hollis is a defender of the private schools because of their educational excellence which he says has kept international business happy. The problem of race remains a thorny one for Bermuda 50 years after the theatre boycott but Mr. Hollis said if Bermudians simply adopted the Biblical urging to 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you' much would be achieved.

"It has to be a mindset which becomes second nature, if we achieved that most of our problems would fall by the wayside."