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There are exceptions, just as there are white supporters of the PLP and black members of the UBP. But generally speaking, the main support for independence comes from blacks, the main opposition from whites.

Scanning the BIC’s report reveals a painful irony. Whites have drawn comfort and security from the Mother Country’s checks and balances on our power structure – especially since 1998. Blacks see these colonial links as vestiges of slavery and segregation and look to independence as the final act of emancipation. So, it could be argued, independence might help diffuse the very fear and distrust between races that poses the biggest obstacle to it ever coming about.

Whites often look to struggling Caribbean countries to make a case against independence. Rarely, the report says, do they examine conditions pre-independence or focus on struggling ‘white’ countries. Since many Bermudians trace their heritage to the Caribbean, it’s easy to see how this inflames racial conflict.

The report is unequivocal on the racial divide – the issue must be addressed; independence or no independence. Materialism has got in the way; blacks and whites are in agreement that we have been too busy chasing the dollar to bridge the racial divide in any meaningful way.

As long as this remains true, independence will likely remain a distant pipe dream. If, on the other hand, Bermudians (and primarily, whites) were willing, as one of the contributors to the BIC report suggests, to fully acknowledge the ills of Bermuda’s “caste system” and remove any of its vestiges, then perhaps blacks and whites could embrace a common destiny.

This might seem like a long shot, but then, the stakes could not be higher. The first step is to read the BIC’s report — it’s long but digestible — and whether your views are fixed or flexible, it’s an eye-opener. As of today, the ‘I don’t know enough about it’ excuse no longer flies.[[In-content Ad]]

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