Dear Sir,

It is apparent that the objective of this latest exhibit by Manuel Palacio is to highlight the fact that his aim is to continue the discourse on the ongoing subject of racial warfare, albeit in a bold, provocative, and uncomfortable manner to some viewers.

Particularly so since the artist drew inspiration from the 1988 book A Small Place, penned by Jamaica Kincaid, and in which it “linked Antigua’s colonial past with the modern culture of tourism to the island”.

Furthermore, “the notice accompanying Mr Palacio’s exhibit notes a parallel between that book and Bermuda’s own condition”.

To bring home that message as it relates to Bermuda’s present-day culture in regards to its advertising in tourism, the “offended woman” would better understand the meaning behind We Serve Whites Only if she visited a couple of the hotels on the Island and looked at their websites.

The images of patrons portrayed at some establishments of hospitality give the stark impression that these locals are in the business to exclusively serve ‘Whites Only’ while blacks are portrayed only in positions of servitude, hence one reason why the redundant display of white skin, ad nauseam, brings some understanding to the “I hate white people” offence.

As a patron of Island hotels who happens to be a black US citizen, in this day and age I find the colonial trend to be quite absurd, while noting on many occasions the amount of non-whites who patronise the facilities.

By deliberately excluding complimentary images of blacks from their websites, said appalling, dismaying, and racist practice serves as a slap in the face of all non-white Bermudians; the latter is what the “offended” writer to The Royal Gazette should have been, righteously, indignant about.

RUPERT DAVIS, New York