Sir John Swan with tackling racism. The moment he was charged with that tough and sensitive task he began to be attacked.

It seems to us that when the Premier formed a new Cabinet after the general election, he responded to concerns about racism which had surfaced in the report by Judge Tumim and been much talked about before and during the election. Doubtless, if the Premier had not responded to the concerns, he would have been called uncaring. The moment he responded, it was claimed that he responded too late because he was uncaring. It has been said of the United Bermuda Party's approach to racism since the election, "Now they treat the issue as if it was the most startling discovery since sliced bread.'' Now it is claimed that Mr. Jerome Dill should not have been given the job because he is black and that it is senseless to appoint a black man to face the problems of racism and that there are plenty of young whites in the UBP who could do the job. The Progressive Labour Party banquet over the weekend was told, "Any move towards combatting racism in Bermuda must be made by the white community.'' We have little doubt that if Premier Swan had appointed a white person to do the job instead of Mr. Dill, there would have been claims that whites are racist anyway and cannot deal with racism because they do not understand racism as it applies to blacks. There might well also have been complaints that Mr. Dill and other talented young blacks in the UBP were being slighted and passed over in favour of white MPs.

As so often happens in Bermudian politics, you are damned if you do not and damned when you do. That seems to us to make solutions much more difficult to achieve. Then the lack of achievement adds more political fodder and politicians complain that nothing is being done. And so the circle of political complaint defeats progress.

The fact is that Mr. Jerome Dill has been appointed. He is willing to do a difficult job that already proves to be thankless. He is a talented young man who topped the poll in a tough parliamentary constituency. We think some of the PLP complaining about Mr. Dill is "sour grapes'' and indicates that they know how talented he is and they are angry that he is not on their side of the House of Assembly.

Mr. Dill is in the job and is probably going to stay there. We think Bermuda needs to deal with racism and Mr. Dill is a facilitator willing to try. If he keeps being kicked then his chances of success decrease. If he gets some help and co-operation, then his chances of success are better. His success is important to Bermuda. Surely this is an area where national concern requires that the Progressive Labour Party put politicking aside and help.