An apology by the white community to the black community would certainly be welcomed by some in Bermuda, but I highly doubt that it will have much of an impact on race relations.

Often, when it comes to race, we focus on ineffectual means of solving a very complex issue. In fact I think the issuance of an apology would belittle the drive to racial reconciliation entirely because saying sorry will not undo the negative aspects of 400 years of shared history.

An important point that those advocating an apology from the white community fail to mention is what form would this apology take and what are the mechanics for delivering it?

In order for an apology of this magnitude and importance to be credible and unambiguous, it must come from the Government, which is the only institution with the constitutional authority to represent all Bermudians.

I think we all can see the problem here. How does a majority black government apologise on behalf of the white community for past injustices done to the black community?

In other countries, these apologies are given by representative institutions such as a government or a church. We have recently seen the Australian Government apologising to the Aborigines and the UK Church of England apologising for its part in aiding and abetting slavery.

The fact that we have a black government it would, in my view, be nonsensical even farcical for the apology to come from our Government. Government and institutions that have apologised find that there is little correlation between the apology and improvement in race relations.

I believe the best way to have true reconciliation is by concrete actions and not mere platitudes. Words are cheap but actions demonstrate you mean business.

To cure problems such as lack of fairness and equality we need to provide adequate health care, education, housing, employment and be intolerant of any form of racial prejudice. Consecutive Government policies from both the UBP and the PLP have gone a long way to tackle these problems.

The present Government is taking meaningful action in all of these areas.

The notion that the white community should unequivocally apologise for racism suffered by Bermudians of colour is neither rational nor should it be expected that the overwhelming majority of the white community would apologise or should apologise for actions that they had no part in.

For instance, Bermudians of Portuguese descent are white and suffered many indignities throughout their history in Bermuda. Should they apologise or should they be apologised to?

If Bermuda continues on its present trajectory of playing the racial blame game instead of committing to actual racial reconciliation, we will be doomed to repeat the mistakes of our forbearers.

Of course people need to be aware and acknowledge that racism still exists in Bermuda and we all need to actively fight against it with meaningful policies, but until we start to think of ourselves as one community we will continue to be self-destructive: "A house divided against itself cannot stand."