Race adviser Rolfe Commissiong has hit back at critics of the Progressive Labour Party's rhetoric — and says it's understandable for blacks to vent their frustrations following a history of discrimination.

Mr. Commissiong insists more whites should vote PLP despite party leaders' controversial comments which many have interpreted as attacks on them.

He says whites should accept stormy remarks from people such as Premier Dr. Ewart Brown and Whip Lovitta Foggo because they are prompted by injustices which remain today as a legacy of slavery and segregation.

And he believes whites' claim that the rhetoric turns them away from the PLP does not stand up as historically they have voted for the United Bermuda Party regardless of what leaders have said.

Dr. Brown's race relations consultant spoke to The Royal Gazette after a string of community leaders urged the party to cut the rhetoric.

Mr. Commissiong has frequently complained white people are failing to bridge the racial divide because more than 95 percent of them consistently vote UBP.

Asked how the PLP can expect to attract white votes when whites claim to feel demonised by PLP rhetoric, Mr. Commissiong replied: "Whites should understand the root of that rhetoric.

"While it may be uncomfortable to hear it, when it does come out they should understand why that rhetoric at times will burst upon the public sphere, politically and otherwise.

"It's the issues that unfortunately have not been adequately dealt with from a standpoint of many in the black community."

Dr. Brown recently angered the white community by claiming they would have not voted for Barack Obama if they had voted in the US election the same way they do in Bermuda.

Many whites pointed out they had been voting for black UBP leaders for years.

Asked why the Premier made those remarks when it is impossible to draw a simple comparison between voting patterns in America and Bermuda, Mr. Commissiong said: "I think black Bermuda is getting tired and frustrated.

"That degree of frustration with Bermuda's white community is a consequence of seeing the same patterns in the same way."With the Premier, one should not discount the fact that he stands on the shoulders of those who paved the way for the black community."When you tie that in with the Bermuda that he grew up in and his desire, no matter how they characterise it, it's understandable why that degree of frustration would apply to not only him but to most of us.

"Ms Foggo's comments during her successful 2007 General Election campaign, in which she said a vote for the UBP would be like a vote for slavery, have been among the most controversial PLP remarks on race.In recent weeks, former Premier Sir John Swan, new Anglican Bishop Patrick White and former civil rights activist Georgine Hill have said such talk divides the Island and have called for it to stop.

PLP backbenchers Wayne Perinchief and Alex Scott have both publicly urged their party to stop playing the race card.Suggesting those MPs were trying to protect white votes in their constituencies, Mr. Commissiong said:"In one sense it's understandable that you get elected members who currently get some degree of white support within their constituency."Like them, I think that getting 20 or 30 voters or 50 voters in a constituency has to be appreciated.

"But it does not delegitimise that in Bermuda in 2007 that the PLP can still only derive one and a half or two percent of the white vote.

"I don't think we should remain silent on this issue for the sake of those votes."