White Bermudians need to understand what it is to be white in order to improve race relations, according to Dr Frances Kendell.

Dr Kendell, who came to the Island to work with Citizens Uprooting Racism in Bermuda (CURB), said examining her own racial history had helped her move forward.

"We need to learn about our shared history, both good and bad," she said. "Those who don't know the past are doomed to repeat it.

"It's not about moving to guilt and shame, but moving towards responsibility."

Originally from Waco, Texas, Dr Kendall said while growing up in the segregated south, she had been given advantages because of her race, including money her family had made in the cotton trade.

"I went to the same school as President Lyndon Johnson's two daughters," she said. "I was given a lot of opportunities, and while it's easy to say you were in the right place at the right time, it's often race that puts you in that right place."

She said a major turning point for her was learning about Executive Order 9066, which imprisoned thousands of Japanese-Americans in the United States during World War II.

"While they were locked up, other people, normally white people, moved in and took their land and their businesses," she said. "When they were released, they returned to homes that were not theirs and businesses that were not theirs.

"It's part of our history, and it's important to remember that history.

"Bermudians, both white Bermudians and black Bermudians, need to know their history and how it pertains to what is going on today."

She also stressed the importance of education in closing the racial gap, saying that education affects every aspect of society.

"In the US, my social security will be paid largely by a growing Latino population, but statistically 50 percent of them are failing out of school. Bermuda's young black men are going through the same difficulties.

"It's clearly an issue where Bermuda has a lot of work to do, but the situation is similar in the rest of the world.

"Bermudians need education to work at the highest level, and if they cannot do that, the whole country suffers. Having a population that is not educated is really trouble."