activist Rolfe Commissiong to stage a roundtable on race relations next month is timely.

Only through talking, talking some more and talking even more will the barriers between the races be broken.

The recent meetings on Constitutional change seem to highlight this.

There isn't much question that whites have been more vocal than blacks about Constitutional change, although the reasons for this have not been fully explored.

Putting it down to "white fear'' is as simplistic and bigoted as believing that black people are not as educated on the Constitution as whites.

By the same token, anyone who sees single seat constituencies without regard to parish boundaries as the next great leap towards racial equality is going to be sorely disappointed; that day will come when hearts, not laws, are changed.

That is why talking about race and talking about past experiences is important, both for whites and for blacks.

It is also the reason why it is valuable for Ms Dapena, who is not associated with the pro-business United Bermuda Party in spite of being associated with business, and Mr. Commissiong, who while backing many of the positions of the Progressive Labour Party is frequently estranged from the party, to be holding this talk.

Both are open-minded people who, freed from the necessity to score political points, will be able to host a measured, honest and open-minded discussion.

This will not solve everything any more than the hundreds of integrated discussions held before now have done. But it will take the process a step further -- and that's all you can ask for.

`BLACKIE' TALBOT EDT `Blackie' Talbot Ross (Blackie) Talbot, who died on Friday, was a true Bermuda hero.

As one of the founders of the Talbot Brothers, he was a great ambassador for Bermuda for decades, appearing all over the US East Coast and on US television.

After Mr. Talbot retired, he and his son Clem began the Ross (Blackie) Talbot charity golf tournament, which raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity.

Mr. Talbot was made a member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his services to music and to charity; his greater reward will be to live in the memories of Bermuda and Bermudians.

The Talbots -- Mr. Talbot's brother Roy is the last surviving founding member -- are an intrinsic part of Bermuda's history. Their family was one of the many who were forced to leave Tucker's Town to make way for the Mid-Ocean Club and Castle Harbour Hotel and the wealthy foreigners who built their vacation homes in the area.

The Talbots had their revenge, for lack of a better word, by becoming hugely popular among the very same class and the most famous musicians Bermuda has ever had.

The author of "Bermuda's Still Paradise'', Mr. Talbot has gone to a different paradise, presumably one where the band never stops, every golf shot hits the green and the view is of blue skies, green trees and pink beaches.