Jerome Dill said yesterday.

Mr. Dill was reacting to a statement made by guest speaker Mr. Sanford Cloud, Jr. at Saturday's National Association for Reconciliation awards dinner.

Mr. Cloud, chief executive officer of the anti-racist National Conference in the United States, was quoted in The Royal Gazette on Monday as saying black and white Bermudians had to begin a national dialogue on race-related issues.

"Having been appointed to Cabinet last year with a mandate to do just that, and having spent a very hectic 12 months or so making what I thought was good progress, I felt no small sense of frustration at your choice of words,'' Mr.

Dill said in a statement sent to the Gazette .

To be fair, Mr. Cloud "could not have been expected to have a very precise idea of what we have been doing in Bermuda,'' he added.

"And again, to be fair, his recommendation would have been right on the money had we not done the work we have done over the last year.'' Mr. Dill said Bermuda was now "well advanced'' in its work to fight racism.

In the coming session of Parliament, he would introduce legislation to create the Commission for Unity and Racial Equality (CURE).

"CURE has been designed as a result of information gleaned from public forums, meetings of focus groups and meetings which I have held every Wednesday for the last year with individuals, groups and organisations interested in this subject.'' One function of CURE would be to develop and implement community education strategies on race relations, "something of which I am sure Mr. Cloud would have approved'', Mr. Dill said.

"The dialogue which is now taking place, and which will continue to take place, has already sometimes been painful and difficult,'' he said. "But it must continue, regardless of how difficult it can be, if we are to exorcise this ugly spirit of racism which continues to find life among us.''