IT would appear that I have inadvertently been drawn into an ongoing debate between my fellow columnist, Mr. Ira Philip, and businessman and cultural historian Mr. Khalid Al-Wasi by virtue of devoting last week's to the story of black Bermudian entrepreneurship and how this long tradition of enterprise and initiative relates to the newly fashionable issue of black economic empowerment.

I must confess, though, that I am at somewhat of a loss when it comes to understanding Mr. Al-Wasi's argument as it pertains to the recent book written by Mr. Philip on the history of the labour movement in this country and, in particular, its focus on the Bermuda Industrial Union.

After all, the book's theme is centred around the development of the Bermuda Industrial Union; it does not pretend to do anything else. In fact, Mr. Philip was commissioned by the BIU to write this official history.

Mr. Al-Wasi's problems with the book seem to centre around the fact that the book focuses on the 1950s/'60s labour struggle in this country and its role in shaping the overall civil rights movement on the part of black Bermudians.

The book, he believes, does not devote enough space to the evolution of sometimes significant black entrepreneurship during the preceding 300 years, a story of struggle and persistence in the face of sometimes overwhelming obstacles which, Mr. Al-Wasi, contends, also played an important role in the development of the Bermudian civil rights struggle.

Well, I may agree in part with that opinion.

Based on the limited amount of research I have conducted on the subject of black entrepreneurship, I am convinced that there is a book to be written about the emergence of black merchants and entrepreneurs in Bermuda. And I am sure such a book would prove to be of tremendous interest to Bermudians interested in this country's historical development.

However, I cannot say that I am in agreement with all of the historical conclusions Mr. Al-Wasi draws. For instance, he points out that at Emancipation in 1834 almost one in four blacks in Bermuda was already a so-called free man. I say "so-called" because the existence of free blacks in Bermuda at that time must be viewed within the context of the island being a slave-owning society.

That was the wretched condition of three-quarters of the black people in this country until this pernicious institution was abolished. So it seems logical to conclude that the freedom enjoyed by a limited number of blacks would have been highly qualified ? a conditional form of freedom and, certainly, not on a par with that enjoyed by most in the contemporaneous white community.

Even in the United States before the Civil War there were free blacks during slavery. In some cases, former slaves were able to buy the freedom of their wives, children and other family members. But the social realities of that time still dictated that by and large a person of colour had no rights that the white society was bound to respect, even if such a person was a so-called free black.

other sentiment which seemed to be telegraphed in last week's Letter to the Editor from Khalid Al-Wasi suggests he is resentful of the role West Indians played in the historical development of black people in this country during the 20th century. Mr. Al-Wasi contends too much emphasis on Bermudians of West Indian descent has resulted in the downplaying of the significant historical role played by earlier generations of born, black Bermudians.

Certainly any history of black entrepreneurship in this country could not leave out the impact of the West Indian on Bermuda. Many of the black-oriented business endeavours from, say, the 1930s through the 1960s, were in fact started by West Indians and, in fact, I think the black community owes them far more than we generally acknowledge.

I am of an age with Mr. Al-Wasi. We are both from the same generation. So I am somewhat surprised that Mr. Al-Wasi seems to begrudge the impact that West Indians immigrants had on Bermudian culture and society in the 20th century.

In fact, from an historical point of view, I say thank God that Bermuda had an influx of people from the West Indies for I see them as being absolutely indispensable in strengthening the black community here.

We are still debating whether racial integration is working in Bermuda but long before that became a supposed social goal, the West Indian integrated with the black, born Bermudian community.

They had an impact on any number of areas of Bermudian life, not only within the Bermudian black community. They did a powerful lot of good for Bermuda, period. They provided us with some great teachers, professional people, leaders in politics and the trade union movement.

I don't see recognition of their contributions as a downplaying of the contributions of the born black Bermudians. But then I have a natural affinity with all black people, no matter what part of the world they come from.

Before someone is tempted to call me a racist, let me state that it is the same affinity that America has for Canada or for Britain or for any other country with which it shares a common cultural heritage.

Mr. Al-Wasi certainly is not alone when it comes to wanting to distance himself from the West Indies It is a strange thing about some black Bermudians who may not share the same type of feeling I have for the Caribbean and feel themselves entirely disconnected to the West Indians even if they happen to be only one or two generations removed from the immigrants who originally came from there.

They do not realise that the white community has also benefited from the influx of other white nationals from other countries but has never made a big deal about it, even if the net result is that the born white Bermudian is, in fact, Bermuda's true minority, having been long outnumbered by foreign born whites.

So I say to Khalid Al-Wasi, we can celebrate the works of a Dr. E.F. Gordon, foreign born West Indian that he was, without feeling that the born black Bermudian is in any way denigrated. There are yet many more books to be written before the true history of Bermuda is told in its true historical context.