The Commission for Unity and Racial Equality has taken the unusual step of issuing a Press release responding to a newspaper letter.

The Commission said a letter by "Peace and Love Patch Adams" in the March 31 issue of suggested that CURE's annual Commemoration Ceremony on March 21 was a memorial for the Sharpeville Massacre of 1960.

The letter cites many other examples of racial and or ethnic intolerance which it said CURE does not commemorate.

However the CURE statement said: "While we at CURE are cognisant of the fact that man's inhumanity to man knows no regional boundaries and that there is evidence of rampant intolerance in the world which we abhor, the commemoration of the Sharpeville Massacre has universal significance.

"In 1966, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 21 March, the anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre, as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

"The day is now commemorated in South Africa as their Human Rights Day.

"This day is commemorated world-wide as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination with the expectation that each respective country will embrace and acknowledge their unique struggles for fundamental human rights and racial equality in their communities."

The statement said that in 1996 the Bermuda Government made its first commitment to Bermuda's community by reading and signing the first Proclamation in support of eliminating racism and racial discrimination in our society, as outlined by the United Nations.

It went on: "Each year, on March 21, the Bermuda Government and the Commission for Unity and Racial Equality publicly proclaim that commitment to our local communities.

"Bermuda continues to function as a country where many of its black community members have yet to reach social and economic parity.

"On that day, we also ask the community to reflect on the lives lost in pursuit of human equality and to take action against the daily acts of discrimination that occur.

"CURE's mandate is to promote good relations between people of different races, and to promote fair and equal access to opportunity by making provisions for the elimination of racial discrimination.

"Amongst our daily challenges, we endeavour to provide the public with an opportunity to hear about the scope of race equality and race relations work ? locally and internationally.

"The history of the March 21st International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination provides us with such an opportunity."