"Get yourselves that black bank!'' Dr. Claud Anderson, an adviser to Jimmy Carter in the 1970s, pleaded with 200 black Bermudians to support a bid for a fourth Island bank at an economic forum.

MPs will debate a private members bill to set up the First International Citizens Bank of Bermuda during the next Parliamentary term.

And Dr. Anderson spoke of the need for blacks to become more competitive in Bermuda's economy.

"You must have a black bank,'' he said, at the meeting at St. Paul's Centennial Hall on Court Street.

"It's critically important. You have got to get that black bank.'' Economics lecturer Dr. Anderson, invited to speak by bank pioneer Andre Heyliger, said he would help bring new businesses to the Island if the bank became a reality.

He added: "If you get your bank, I'll show you all the concepts and how to play the power game on this Island.

"You have got to start creating vision capital. Put your money in that bank and we will bring businesses to this Island for you.

"The majority will win and rule. A minority will lose and suffer. Here you are, as a majority, acting like a minority. I don't understand. It's backwards.

"You have got to take control and you have got to have a bank to do it. The white society isn't going to give you money to start businesses. Forget it. It doesn't make any sense for black people always to be beaten and whipped just to give somebody the privilege of taking their money.'' Dr. Anderson appealed for each member of the audience to ring two or three people to win support for the new bank.

He said those they called should also be asked to ring two or three people -- and people at the end of the chain should contact their MPs.

Petition cards, addressed to House of Assembly Speaker Ernest DeCouto, were handed to everybody leaving the hall to whip up even more support for Mr.

Heyliger's bank proposals.

Dr. Anderson, based in Washington DC, added: "You are a vulnerable people.

Whites are 50-foot economic giants. Blacks are one-foot midgets.

"It's like a Monopoly game. Many black people are going bankrupt or going to jail.

"This is about redistributing the wealth and resources back into the hands of black people to make them a competitive group.'' The crowd gave Dr. Anderson a standing ovation at the end of his one-hour speech, which followed similar calls for blacks to take more economic responsibility from PLP Pembroke West candidate Rodney Smith.

"As a community, we must get about creating jobs and creating opportunities for our people,'' he said. "We must do it ourselves.'' BUSINESS BUC HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY HOA