the publication of the Tumim Report on the criminal justice system. Passions have run high during debates in the House of Assembly and the Senate but do not seem to have run high among the general public. The debates had some value but the sorry thing is that the debates in Parliament were not on the Tumim report which is valuable and needed to be debated. There was a real impression that what went on in Parliament was just another chance to "mouth off'' about some old issues and to talk about some old hobby horses and not about Tumim's report.

Institutionalised racism was a very small part of the Tumim Report but the report did make some valid recommendations about how to go about dealing with the problem. Parliament chose not to address those and not to make any real suggestions of its own. That is too bad because a real opportunity for constructive action was missed in favour of just some more politics. While it is fashionable to use the excuse that you cannot legislate human emotion it is wrong to think that legislation does not help to break down racial barriers.

Legislation can, in fact, set the pace and the standard.

The standard and the pace can also be set by example and it is hard to believe in the things said by the Progressive Labour Party as long as it sets an example as an institutionalised black party. It may be that the PLP is largely black because its leaders want it that way or it may be largely black because whites will not or cannot join. Whatever the reason, the PLP is not making very much effort to integrate and then talks about institutionalised racism.

Sometimes progress requires compromise and maybe the PLP does not accept that.

Part of the problem for the Bermudian public is a lack of clarity on just what was being debated. We are told that black Bermudians understand it already and support change. Many white Bermudians need it pointed out to them because it has become accepted as a part of their way in what the Premier, the Hon. Sir John Swan, has called a "cultural mindset''. Therefore we think it would have been helpful if the debate had dealt more with specifics and with a discussion of solutions. That was not to be.

Bermuda still needs to talk more about race as it applies to our daily lives and it may be that the very airing of the issue has its value. Sometimes it is easy to set things aside and not deal with them until we are poked and prodded into thinking about and facing realities. Thus it is very helpful when the Premier says, "We're going to handle it right up front. We're not going to play any games with it. There will be no denial, we're going to put the blame where it belongs and do something about it.''