A POLITICAL activist has challenged Government to lend a guiding hand to the growing number of single-parent families ? or have society continue to face the ugly consequences of its inaction.

Citing recent incidents of youth violence, criminal activity and attitude and behavioural problems as the result of "poorly directed anger", local builder Sanders Frith Brown said it was time the Commission for Unity and Racial Equality (CURE) addressed the issue now rendering the community dysfunctional.

"The overwhelming problem we have in Bermuda is that children aren't parented," he said in a recent interview with the . "Fifty per cent of children born to Bermudians every year are born out of wedlock.

"We have got to do something about the out-of-control youths in Bermuda who are not adequately supported. It's up to all of us. We're all neighbours in Bermuda and if we don't provide for these children, we will suffer the consequences of that inattention.

"It leads to the use of drugs. It leads to the violence which is creating problems obviously throughout our tourism industry, but which also affects the quality of life for the rest of us."

A series of public meetings were held this week to tackle Bermuda's growing problem with youths. Police Commissioner Jonathan Smith admitted during the open forum, entitled "Effective Strategies for the Development of Boys in Bermuda", that he had no idea what was causing the rebellion in youngsters, but that violence had exploded since 1970.

"There's definitely a shift in behaviour and attitude," he was reported as saying by . "There's clearly more evidence of violence in schools. There's evidence of a lot more young people involved in criminality, whether it's gangs, drugs or violence . . . We need to know exactly what the problem is. There is a real lack of research."

Mr. Frith Brown attributed the change to a lack of parenting, saying he had a direct understanding as he never knew his own father. He was fortunate, however, that his grandparents had provided their support.

"If you check the inmates in prison, the figures are staggering. Ninety-five per cent of them are from fractured homes; overwhelmingly from single-parent homes.

"The Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC) provides for a number of single mothers but their policy is not to let the granny live in the house. I grew up with my grandparents. I wouldn't have recognised my father if I saw him.

"If I hadn't had a grandparent at home to help provide for me, let alone to discipline me and teach me to read . . .

"(Because of that) I have been sending a black, out-of-wedlock child to Warwick Academy for ten years.

"My challenge to black activists ? members of the Progressive Labour Party (PLP), particularly those in the House of Parliament ? is to meet me on the steps of Warwick Academy and and do the same; send a black child to Warwick Academy.

"The issue has nothing to do with the child's rights. It is an issue of adequate parenting. Don't think I'm picking on the PLP but it's time to put down a concrete series of strategies to deal with the overwhelming problem in Bermuda; parenting our out-of-control children."

The Children's Amendment Act 2002 came into effect only this week. With its legislation, both parents became legally responsible for the care and financial support of minors born outside of marriage. It's an issue which Mr. Frith Brown feels has been left unattended for years because of illegitimacy's slavery connotations.

"The black community deserves closure. I think that's part of the problem. They're entitled to their story being told. I sympathise with their fury.

"I understand. I'm staggered by the decency and the forgiving nature of the black community for the way my racist ancestors treated them." The best solution for addressing that anger was via open discussion, Mr. Frith Brown said. And while CURE could best provide that forum, its mandate would be better met through a change in the composition of its board.

"There are too many angry blacks and bleeding-heart liberals on it. They need some white racists. There is tremendous division in the community and we're not going to work out a strategy to deal with that division if we aren't honest. We have to have the white community participate in that debate.

"The white community is fiercely judgmental. They're ill-educated as a group. They think the (parenting problems and related issues) are about race. And this is where we have this problem. We do not have a dialogue. CURE needs to become effective. Put me as chair of CURE. I would do something about it.

"Black people know what they suffered and I think we need to honour what they suffered. I think we need to teach more in the schools about slavery and we need to interpolate into the curriculum of education, discussions among children that are ten years and older, so that we can talk freely; so that children can go home and tell their parents, 'Mummy, guess what I learned today? Black people, if you peel their skin off, bleed like us. Or white people et cetera.'

"That's what we need. I've chased successive Ministers of Education. They won't see me. We've got to take that to the practical conclusion ? to carve the future by studying the past."