Opposition Sen. Mark Pettingill has challenged Government to set an example -- by changing the racial mix of its line-up in the House of Assembly.

Sen. Pettingill was responding to Government proposals to encourage employers to develop recruitment strategies so that their staff will reflect the racial make-up of the Island.

But Sen. Pettingill questioned whether the idea was feasible -- and stressed that the colour of one's skin should not be an issue in the first place.

"If we are standing hand in hand and are worried about the colour of the hand we are holding, we are not going to see the view from the mountain top,'' Sen.

Pettingill said.

"Is it sensible to ask foreign companies to have 70 percent black employees? "Will eight members of the Government be giving up their seats to be filled by white people so that you can stand as a shining example of what your policy is? Lead by example and get your eight whites into the House of Assembly.

"That's what is being suggested if the Government wants a policy guided by race quotas.

"I am not afraid to point the finger at a white man and say he's a racist.

But I am also not afraid to point the finger at a black man if he is a racist.'' Sen. Pettingill recounted a recent incident where he was talking to a group of friends. It was suddenly pointed out to him that he was the only white person in the group -- something he had not noticed.

But he said his own views on racism were not typical of a minority of older Bermudians.

"If we perpetuate the sickness of older whites and older blacks what happens is you infect younger people,'' he said.

And he said providing everyone with equal opportunities in education, backed up by family values, would allow everyone to live in harmony "not as members of a black race or a white race, but as members of the human race''.

But Government Sen. Calvin Smith disagreed, saying that current immigration procedures worked against blacks.

He pointed out that in recent years nearly 90 percent of the Island's immigrant population was made up of whites.

"I would say that was deliberately done because it was done from countries where the possibility of getting a black person in was a snowball's chance in hell,'' he said.

And he said everyone was prejudiced to a greater or lesser degree because of their background and upbringing.

"If I was to say that I was without prejudice, I would be lying,'' Sen. Smith said.

"But what Minister (Terry) Lister is doing is trying to re-dress the evils of the past so that blacks can increasingly see black role models.''