Government MP Delaey Robinson is appealing for Bermudians to face the race problem individually in a bid to rid the Island of the last vestiges of prejudice.

And he said institutional racism is on the decline and it was time people stopped blaming it for their own personal failings.

Mr. Robinson said: "If you want to solve the race problem you have to do it yourselves. I never, in any situation, let a racial thing get by.

"If a black person is acting in a racial way I would say something. And white people must do the same thing.'' He said people should feel free to challenge claims of racism if they felt someone was crying wolf.

"When a darker-skinned person says that's something that is racist and you are offending me, the lighter-skinned person should feel free to say let's be specific. What do you mean? They should get to the bottom of it.

"Too often we are afraid to pursue the issue, with the end result we never get to the root of it.'' But he also said: "And sometimes rather than deal with the truth we will trot out a racial excuse.'' "Instead of saying `Joe Bloggs, you didn't get the job because you just don't have what it takes to do the job', instead we say `yeh, Joe Bloggs it is because you are black you haven't got that job'.

"That does a lot of damage -- it's a lie to start with and it entrenches the view that racism is a bigger problem than it actually is and it doesn't solve Joe Bloggs' problem.

"Instead of Joe Bloggs going and getting the qualifications and doing what it takes to do the job, Joe Bloggs gets angry and the next time he sees a white person he's angry at them.

"We have used the race thing as an excuse to some degree. But it's not always an excuse -- it is still there to some extent.'' Mr. Robinson said institutional racism in which people were barred from getting ahead was winding down -- leaving just personal antagonisms which would be easier to shift.

"It's quite amazing with the CURE returns only nine of the 460 companies failed to return the forms -- that's a very small percentage.

"But people now have entrenched views and they are very, very difficult to dislodge and for them to give the trust they would give to somebody they call their own.'' MP says some progress made on race issue He said more trust was needed.

"It's a very dicey thing. When do you trust somebody of the other race? And when is it racism and when is it you? It's not always easy to call.

"This is a period in our history which we will have to get through. We have to come to the table with goodwill.

"It has to be done with actions rather than words.'' "I can remember segregation and not being able to go somewhere because that was a white only place.

"That's not a comfortable thing to grow up with. The remnants of that you felt for years and years.

"Obviously there is a lot less of that now and I am much thicker skinned.

"I can't remember the last time I had a racial slight. So things are improving but clearly they need to go some way.

"One of the things that the lighter skinned people might need to do is listen with a little more empathy to what some of the darker skinned people are saying and really some of the darker skinned people need to listen to what some of the lighter skinned people are saying.

"We need to talk about these things and get it off our chests.'' He welcomed the recent TV dialogue on the race issue.

He said: "It was great to get the subject aired although they were walking on eggshells a bit.

"It would be good to get some of the people who don't feel comfortable with the new state of things to single out why those people feel that way.'' Cris Valdes-Dapena, one of the organisers of the recent TV race dialogue, said: "I think he is right. In the next show we hope to go deeper and focus on some of the issues just touched on in the first instance.'' She said the next TV show, likely in January, would look at topics which cropped up in viewer feedback including economic equality, independence and personal practical steps of tackling racism.

Mr. Robinson continued: "We have to get rid of this baggage but we can't do it without talking about it.

"We need these kinds of dialogues going with a view to getting past this thing. Still there is a wall of distrust between the two groups.

"This distrust is a terrible legacy to be living on with.

"People need to educate themselves on both sides, and I mean both sides. It requires some effort to understand the other side.

"But an awful lot of this distrust is no longer justified. We have lived with it for so long that some of us feel loathe to believe that it has gone or that it is going, particularly if you have been on the receiving end.'' Mr. Robinson said the race question was being superseded by the issue of class.

"It's been largely replaced by the have and the have-not equation. That is becoming as significant as the race thing. "We have all kinds of racism -- there is racism against Portuguese, people who want to define them as Portuguese as opposed to European.

"An awful lot of it is people's own insecurities. Racism feeds on insecurities and people not willing to take some risks and step out of these old moulds.''