After a week of protests and heightened tensions, the island must now come together in order to move forward.

Sylvia Hayward-Harris, an ordained pastor and addiction counsellor, said that communication was the only way to move beyond the lingering issues facing the community.

“The primary thing for the Premier and his Cabinet is to do exactly what they said they plan to do. Listen more and consult more,” she said. “That is the whole issue.

“There are a lot of deep-seated traumatic memories that have come down through the generations that need to be addressed and heard.

“To not address them and not even attempt to understand what is going on in this community is a recipe for disaster because we have seen what can happen when people get angry and don’t feel they are being heard.”

Asked about her feelings as the tensions raised over the past week, she said: “I was scared, frankly. I was scared for the island because it felt like all we needed was just the slightest spark.

“I know some people were upset that the police didn’t become more involved, but I’m glad they didn’t. I think it would have been a major error. That would have been just what we would have needed to set everybody off.”

Ms Hayward-Harris said both black and white Bermudians still carried the weight of slavery and racism, adding: “People still remember. Stories are passed down.”

As a result of the tensions, Ms Hayward-Harris launched an open meditation event at Victoria Park to help the public move forward.

“Because there was so much damage, not physical damage, but heart damage and spiritual damage and relationship damage, we needed to start healing. We needed some peace, some harmony. We need some attempt to try to see the other side, and that goes for both sides.”

While she said the Government needed to set a standard for the community, she said the community itself must also take responsibility. Recalling her experience as an addiction counsellor, she said that one thing that addicts were told is that while their parents make decisions for them while they are young, there comes a point when they must make their own decisions and stop blaming their parents if they wish to move forward.

“The community as a whole needs healing, and the only way that is going to happen is if the community takes responsibility,” she said.

Bishop Nick Dill, meanwhile, said that in light of the recent tensions, the Cathedral on Church Street would be hosting a quiet time for prayer and reflection next Wednesday from noon until 12.45pm.

He said: “This occasion is not a time for speeches, banners, marches or debates – but a coming together as brothers and sisters from all backgrounds, from leaders to the man and woman on the street, irrespective of race, nationality, political parties or persuasion to sit together, to pray, to reflect and to go back to our families and communities resolved to love God and our neighbour once again.

“And as we go to those with whom we may disagree, let us resolve not so much to speak about one another, or to speak at one another, but to speak to one another and to listen carefully as we speak in order to understand and respect each other with whom we will have to live in this small, fragile yet beautiful place.”