Dear Sir,

I quote the Sam Strangeways article in The Royal Gazette on July 22. She attributed “two Bermudas” as a reference not to race but to the “haves and have-notes” in society. They are the same, so why try to draw a distinction?

The vast majority of those who enjoy having the economic opportunities and the real wealth of this country are white. They are the “haves”.

The vast majority of those who are poor and “have-not” are black, as a result of our history and the deliberate policy of segregating and excluding blacks from economic opportunities.

Why do people want to pretend that the racial disparity between the races does not exist, as if our history never existed and does not continue to have a long-term impact on our society?

If we try to ignore that black enslavement and segregation of blacks is the foundation of both the two Bermudas, and the racial and economic disparities, then we do not have to consider proposals to counter decades of racial injustices.

The racism of our history has not only had economic impact, but a psychological one, too. Too many blacks have accepted that we have no value. Why else do we find young black men killing each other when young white men value themselves and see opportunities denied to young black men? They are not killing each other.

We will never correct what we refuse to acknowledge.

EVA N. HODGSON, PhD