morning yesterday as MPs wrapped up their consideration of the Tumim Report.

Judge Stephen Tumim's 1992 Report of the Criminal Justice Review Board made 34 recommendations, but his references to institutional racism in Bermuda dominated debate.

Mr. Phillip Smith of the United Bermuda Party said institutional racism relates to "our way of doing things,'' and "old habits...in some cases are hard to break.

"You can't legislate attitudes; you can't legislate an individual's heart; you can't legislate one's way of doing things if they refuse to change.'' Mr. Smith singled out BF&M Insurance Group as a large company which has long had black employees but no black managers.

Because of educational upgrading in the past ten to 15 years, "there are other qualified people within the community that may not be members of the old boys' club, but are qualified for positions of management in an organisation of that type.'' Mr. Smith said he believes BF&M has only three black members on its board. "I would call that institutionalised tokenism,'' he said.

A "glass ceiling'' exists for many blacks, but "we don't expect to find that ceiling that presently exists to remain there,'' he said. Black Bermudian shoppers are keeping many Front Street shops open, and "if we're going to be that anxious to accept their money,'' more top jobs should be available.

"Look at the banks,'' he said. "Blacks aren't breaking any records moving up through the banks.'' While he commended the former Education Minister for his work reforming the school system, Mr. Smith questioned whether such wholesale changes were needed. There were students falling through the cracks, but "there were a hell of a lot of people who did not fall through the cracks,'' he said.

"If you've got a leak in your roof, you don't tear your whole house down to repair the leak.'' What was needed was a trade school, to provide an alternative for students who did not excel in academics, he said. Many automobile mechanics, plumbers, air conditioner repair people, and beauty salon managers in Bermuda were hired from abroad.

Problems in secondary schools have their roots in primary schools, and parents need to be educated about the role they can play in education, even by reading to their children for 15 minutes a day, he said.

In dealing with drug offenders, Mr. Smith said he favours a system whereby first offenders would be given a rehabilitation option, as opposed to prison.

Mr. Walter Lister of the Progressive Labour Party said it was Government's failure to implement the major recommendations of the Pitt Report in 1978 that led to the present situation.

While there is agreement the Tumim recommendations are good ones, "I'm not prepared to give credit to anybody at this stage, until I see the results,'' he said.

Mr. Lister said he was astonished last week when Education Minister the Hon.

Clarence Terceira told the House he was raised "colour blind,'' then questioned the PLP about why it did not have more white members.

The MP said he was reminded of the beggar in New York City who folds up his white cane at the end of the day and walks home.

It is for the white community, not the PLP, to say why more whites have not joined the party, he said.

The previous speaker, Mr. Smith of the UBP, "made some good points,'' and the fact Government has not heeded what he said demonstrates that institutional racism exists in the UBP, Mr. Lister said.

There are hardly any whites in the African Methodist Episcopal church, Mr.

Lister noted. "I'm very sceptical of particularly white missionaries who go all the way to Africa to do missionary work, and yet will not associate with an AME church in their own community,'' he said. "If this is not institutional racism, I don't know what is.'' Rather than talk about being colour blind, youth should be taught to recognise and respect differences, he said.

Government recently moved to block a black man who was selling refreshments on Government property, but a few years ago passed retroactive legislation to allow a white man to compete with the post office, he said. "That's why there are so many blacks in prison.'' The Tumim Report is "a signpost'' and "one of the last windows of opportunity that this country has to implement something solid so we can bring people together and make them understand exactly what the situation is.'' Mr. Anthony Correia (UBP) said he was not surprised consideration of Tumim turned into a racial debate. "I'm very pleased that it has,'' he said.

When the session opened, Opposition Leader Mr. Frederick Wade MP said he hoped debate "would be on a high road,'' Mr. Correia noted. "Unfortunately, his intentions were good, but it didn't last very long.'' The floor of the House of Assembly was the forum to improve race relations, and "if we can't do it, we're definitely sending the wrong message to the people of this country, especially the young people.'' A black man who was not a UBP supporter recently said it was a putdown for the PLP to suggest blacks and whites did not have equal opportunities in Bermuda.

"He said, you know, if that is true, why is it then that Mr. Swan, who is black, is our Premier, and how much higher can you go?'' As much as blacks and whites try to come together, "it seems that we're drifting further and further apart,'' said Mr. Correia, adding that he agreed with Mr. Lister that "it's been talk, talk, talk, and reports have gone on the shelves and gotten full of dust.

"Now we have another report,'' he said. "I hope that this is the last one.'' Mr. Correia said he experienced discrimination as a Portuguese and one of his sons was unable to try out for a track team in Bermuda after hearing black team members say: "We don't want honkies on this team.'' To end racism will require cooperation of both sides of the House, rather than treating race as "a political football,'' he said.

Mr. Dennis Lister (PLP) said institutional racism was important, but its predominance in the debate overshadowed other Tumim recommendations.

He would have preferred Government Ministers to discuss how the 34 recommendations affected their Ministries and how they intended to implement them, he said.

Mr. Lister commended Transport Minister the Hon. Ralph Marshall for tabling legislation to end mandatory jail terms for traffic offences. But unfortunately, he was the only one to do so, he said.

"At the end of this debate, we're still not sure where the Government stands on specific recommendations,'' Mr. Lister said. "We have no way of holding them accountable,'' and the report could "return to the shelf.'' Tumim highlights how young black people have negative contact with the legal system early through minor offences, often end up incarcerated when they should not be, then pay for the rest of their lives through reduced job and travel opportunities and lower self-esteem, he said.

The prison system must be changed to address correction and treatment, not just incarceration, he said. Retraining was needed for prison officials.

Mr. Lister said he was surprised to learn the sole psychologist working in the prison system had been unable to see a prisoner for two years, and would not be able to for a further two years, because he was assigned to the prison transition team.

"Those who currently need the treatment...will be reintroduced to society without that treatment,'' he said.

While they physically dry out in prison, drug and alcohol addicts should also receive mental counselling, or they will resume their abuse soon after their release, he said. But prisoners on remand are "not eligible to receive any assistance at all.'' Police should have more discretion to bring parties together and resolve disputes before laying charges, he added. The fact the PLP is predominantly black demonstrates the "one-way integration'' introduced by the UBP, he said.

Blacks have joined white institutions, but whites have not done the reverse, he said.

Mr. Lister said the UBP was not capable of addressing institutional racism, because "the system that they are strengthening is actually fostering the institutional racism that still exists.'' Whites see the problem but do not understand it, he said. "They say they've achieved integration, but they still chastise their members who want to integrate a black establishment.'' Shadow Labour and Home Affairs Minister Mrs. Lois Browne Evans said institutionalised racism had been well documented.

Bermudians had highlighted the problem for years, she added.

So why was it necessary to bring Judge Tumim, an Englishman, here to restate what was already apparent? Mrs. Browne Evans asked why the UBP Government had ignored Bermudians for so long. Why, for instance, did it take Tumim to report the Legal Aid needed reform? A group of Bermudian lawyers had already told Government the system was in chaos.

"Is it that it's more tenable, more acceptable to accept the recommendations from an Englishman? "This Government does not listen to the recommendations from Bermudians.'' Turning to the Bermuda's high prison population, Mrs. Browne Evans said Casemates was known as an "abomination'' when people were sent there.

It was only now Government was paying "lip service'' to moves to rehabilitate people. Mrs. Browne Evans told how she visited a 10-year-old girl in Bermuda's female prison over Christmas.

And she also recounted how, as a lawyer, she had to mitigate for a "Peeping Tom'' facing 36 convictions.

She told the judge the man's problem stemmed from a "sexual compulsion'' to peep on others.

But the judge said prison was the best solution for him, where he could be seen by a psychiatrist. So he was locked up for 10 years.

"This is the way courts bury their heads in the sands, and do not listen to the locals,'' said Mrs. Browne Evans.

Mrs. Browne Evans said Judge Tumim had described a "lock 'em up'' approach as a short-term means of getting law and order.

But it meant people would lose respect in the criminal justice system.

Mrs. Browne Evans said most of the people who had brought about racial change were blacks. They were the speakers of change who often died from stress-related conditions.

Mrs. Browne Evans briefly focused on the electoral system. "Until we have a Government elected in a fair electoral system we will not get a proper commitment to make the proper social changes that are necessary in this Country.'' She added Bermuda needed "equal electoral districts'' for fairness.

Mrs. Browne Evans said it was the victims of racism who naturally tried harder for change. It was the people who suffered from slavery and segregation who brought about change.

Mrs. Browne Evans said she had entered Parliament to help the degraded, under-privileged, and dehumanised -- not for self-aggrandisement.

"This party was born to take on the mantle to bring about justice,'' she said, adding people wanted representatives in Parliament, and not statesmen making fancy speeches. Mrs. Browne Evans rejected accusations the PLP was a poor example of integration.

And white people entering the PLP should not expect to be received rapturously by all its members. They should understand some people bear the scars of the past.

Mrs. Browne Evans slammed those in the UBP who attacked PLP members for speaking vigorously on racial issues, and labelling their speeches "diatribes''. Government had to show a greater commitment to the Tumim report, and pledge to bring in legislation in the next session.

Its commitments to date, and its talk of producing a white paper, were inadequate.

Mrs. Browne Evans went on to deplore the way blacks were depicted on television, the radio, and in books and plays. Bermudians were fed a diet of American television which belittled and demeaned blacks, she said.

Those wanting to find out about their past and African heritage were being denied. Bermuda's education system was "shallow'' and did not inform blacks about their history.

Concluding her 90-minute speech, Mrs. Browne Evans said a crucial way of bringing Bermudians together was by making the colony a nation.

Jamaica had become much more united since achieving independence in 1962.

And it boasted the ideal motto: "Out of many one''.

Mrs. Browne Evans said the UBP symbol of a black hand clasping a white one was inappropriate. It should be one hand, indicating togetherness.

Environment Minister the Hon. Gerald Simons said he had been struck by two things when he visited Casemates.

Firstly, that he knew many of the people there, both prisoners and staff.

And secondly, the overwhelming majority of prisoners were black, some of whom he had been to school with.

Mr. Simons also told of one thing he had been struck by while in the employee benefits field of the business world. Chief executives, managers, and owners -- those known as "the movers and shakers'' -- were predominantly white.

Mr. Simons added he had noticed many of these whites were not intellectual giants. Some, indeed, had difficulty comprehending basic concepts.

But they had a firm belief it was right for them to run their businesses.

Mr. Simons agreed with Mrs. Browne Evans about the damaging effects of American television. He did not, however, believe it right that only the PLP had struggled to improve the lot of blacks.

Both sides of the House had attempted to do this, he stressed.

Mr. Simons said it was now right to look to the future, and take on the coming challenges. He added Government had a commitment to the Tumim recommendations, and always took seriously reports on the criminal justice system.

What had to change in Bermuda, however, was the expectations of people.

Young people had to aspire to become businessmen or go to college, said Mr.

Simons. While society's expectations of people needed to change, businesses also had to do more.

Mr. Simons said businesses should stop judging people too much on what college they attended. They needed to adopt a more inclusive than exclusive approach.

Mr. Simons said white people also had the power to inflict more harm on blacks, than vice versa.

A black man in an altercation with a white could insult him. But a white man could affect a black man's job opportunities, and abilities, for instance, to get a bank loan.

Much greater sensitivity was needed in the community, said Mr. Simons.

On a positive note, he added the restructuring of the education system should provide more career opportunities for the young.

Government whip Dr. David Dyer said human beings began from a union of two people. This was true whether you believed in the Bible, religion, or Darwin's theory of evolution.

That basic premise meant all human beings were related, whether black, white, or whatever colour, said Dr. Dyer.

It was unfortunate, therefore, that in 1993 racism was still such a prickly issue. It was easier, indeed, to place a black man's heart in a white man, or vice versa, than to get people of different colours to agree on race, he added.