Starting with desegregation in 1968 and picking up steam in the prosperous 1980s, many black Bermudians have made tremendous strides in assuming more and more managerial and executive positions within the Bermudian workplace, especially within Government.

But has their success, which most would agree reverses historic labour trends, come at the expense of their fellow white Bermudians? Is there, in Government's current hiring practices, an unofficial policy of so-called affirmative action? Some white Bermudians -- particularly young ones -- believe there is, expressing a frustration and dismay over their failure to find work with their own civil service.

As part of its "Race in Bermuda'' series, The Royal Gazette spoke with a few of these young white locals, finding in their comments an alternating sense of pessimism, resentment and in particular sadness.

*** All that Steven (not his actual name) has ever really wanted to do in terms of a career was promote his Island birthplace.

Over the years, consequently, the outgoing young Bermudian has gone through all of the steps that he felt were certain to land him a job with Tourism: studying marketing and advertising at a top American university, working as a gofer in one of the Department's US offices, seeking out mentors from whom he could watch and learn.

Despite his efforts and enthusiasm, however, Steven, now in his early 30s, has never been offered a full-time job with Tourism, has only rarely been allowed to undergo an interview.

And the primary reason, he said in a recent interview, is because he's the "wrong colour'': white.

"When I first tried to get a job as an office helper -- they often hire Bermudian students in the overseas offices -- it took me almost two years just to get an appointment to see (the manager),'' Steven told The Royal Gazette .

"He wouldn't,'' he continued, "return any of my phone calls, and over time I got so frustrated that I contacted a person I knew on the Tourism Board, which got me an appointment to see the guy. When I did, we had a nice informal interview, but I didn't actually get hired (as a helper) until more than a year later, which is fine, because they already had someone.

"Finally,'' Steven said, "I did start working in the office, and a full-time sales position eventually came up. Naturally, I applied for it, but I didn't get it. The job went to two other applicants, one white and one black, both of whom were less qualified. Afterwards, the manager came back to me and said that, well, I was a good worker, and would really be great in Tourism. He even said that I reminded him of himself when he was my age.'' "But,'' Steven recalled, "he told me that he was hiring a black Bermudian to give him the opportunity. He said he wanted to groom him, to make him his protegee.'' Since that early experience, which Steven admitted had left him "angry'' and "disillusioned,'' he has applied for six or seven Tourism jobs over the past eight years, none of which he's received.

"And when I applied for other Government jobs, people would say to me: `Oh, you're the wrong colour or the wrong race.' That wasn't just people outside of Government. That was within the departments.'' If Steven, who has since found success in the private tourism sector, sounds like a bitter anomaly, he isn't.

Margo, a young white Bermudian who said that she can trace her family's roots on the Island as far back as the 1600s, has a communications degree from a well-known US college and years of experience in the hospitality industry, but she told The Royal Gazette that she realised she would probably never find a job with Government after she didn't even get to interview recently for a hotel inspection post.

And Jesse, a white Bermudian-born woman in her early 30s, said she only managed to secure a position in the civil service after being turned down numerous times by a variety of Government departments, including Postal Services.

"I don't know,'' Jesse said in an interview, "if it's a rationalisation on Government's part that white people have better opportunities in the private sector than black people, but (a sort of unofficial affirmative action policy) does seem to be true of the Postal Service and probably Customs as well. I mean, I had an associate degree (from the Bermuda College) and was turned down as a postal carrier. What higher qualifications could you possibly need to deliver the mail?'' For their part, almost all of the Department heads that The Royal Gazette canvassed recently "vehemently and categorically'' denied that the race of an applicant determined whether he or she is considered for a job, saying that hiring decisions were made on the basis of experience, credentials, suitability and "personality, whether he or she would be temperamentally suited to a position.'' "It (race) certainly isn't an overt factor,'' said Cabinet Secretary Mr. Leo Mills, whose department oversees the hiring of all public servants. "We don't say: `We have one black so we need one white.''' Tourism Director Mr. Gary Phillips, whose Ministry came in for the biggest criticism by young white Bermudians, added: "Race has never been a (hiring) issue as long as I've been Director. We choose those who are the most compatible and the most skilled. This is, after all, a very serious business.

It is not a game.'' Some whites feel discrimination Naturally, a country in which blacks comprise a majority of the overall population is bound to have more black civil servants than white ones -- in Bermuda's case, 3,113 blacks to 1,026 whites, according to the 1991 census.

And, no doubt, the range of opportunities for whites in the private sector are indeed still better than they are for their black counterparts, a fact that many of the young white Bermudians that The Royal Gazette spoke to recognised.

"If you're looking at the overall job market,'' Jesse admitted, "I think it (the alleged preferential treatment of blacks) is probably fair, because I probably do have a few more opportunities out there.'' Nonetheless, these same white Bermudians told The Gazette , such supposed advantages do not make any instance of discrimination against a white Bermudian any less painful or wrong.

And, they noted further, it is difficult to believe that whites have not suffered any discrimination at all in Bermuda when its politicians and policy makers seem to openly tolerate and even encourage such bias.

When, for instance, Government made the announcements this year that it was hiring two white Englishmen and a black Barbadian as the Island's new top cops and Attorney General respectively, only the appointment of the two white Britons raised any political hackles.

At the time, Mrs. Lois Browne Evans of the Opposition Progressive Labour Party told fellow Parliamentarians that Government "should have first gone to the West Indies'' if it was forced to hire non-Bermudians, while PLP MP Dr. Ewart Brown appeared to bait participants at a party-sponsored crime forum in St.

George's by asking: "Do you think the answer (to Bermuda's racial tensions) is to bring in two foreign commissioners?'' The reply of one young woman was: "Not no white commissioners. We have Bermudians that can do that job.'' At the same time, there are many public figures on the Island who have tried to strike a more conciliatory note on the issue, acknowledging the complexity of racial discrimination.

Just last month, for instance, Government backbencher Mrs. Grace Bell, a black MP from St. George's South, said: "We (blacks) have our problem people too.

Racism is being perpetrated against Orientals (in Bermuda). It's perpetrated against anyone who is different.'' Despite the presence of such moderate voices, however, the implication by some in Bermuda today that to be Bermudian is to be black has not been lost on whites.

"There's a perception,'' Margo said in reference to Bermuda's civil service, "that you have to be black to get ahead these days.'' Whether or not that perception is a reality is a harder matter to pin down, but the fact that it exists speaks volumes about the attitudes of young white Bermudians.

And of their faith in their Country.

"I am very hesitant,'' said Steven, "to apply for a Government job anymore.''