As the CURE advertisements keep reminding the community, black Bermudians are under-represented in the top levels of management.

And if the Commission for Unity and Racial Equality surveys did not prove the point, then the Employment Surveys and the 2000 Census make the point eminently clear.

Black Bermudians earn less, have less real property and proportionately lag behind white Bermudians in all economic sectors.

That is the starting point for any discussion on economic opportunity in Bermuda, and the problem - and it is a problem - is generally well recognised among all thinking Bermudians.

Where people differ is how it can solved.

Tuesday night's debate put on by Black Agenda 2000 was no different. While the discussion ran longer - no surprise there - than most news deadlines could accommodate, the answers were varied.

Claudette Fleming suggested a number of different committees and organisations to assist people with business development and to advise black Bermudians on investing in businesses.

Government Senator Calvin Smith suggested that the Government should promote and support the idea of cooperative companies, in which control and profit are shared equally by all.

Sen. Smith also rightly said that black Bermudians already have economic power and said blacks should not support businesses solely because they were black-owned. Instead they should support business on the basis that they offer the best product and/or price. With the exception of cooperatives, much of what was discussed is already in place. Organisations like the Small Business Development Corporation (SBDC) offer financial guarantees and business advice to entrepreneurs.

The Human Rights Commission and CURE are in place to prevent discrimination on the basis of race or barriers to entry and to encourage greater diversity in the workplace.

What these organisations do not do is "positively discriminate" on the basis of race, although this has occurred elsewhere, as in the Telecommunications Ministry under Renee Webb.

The danger of the latter policy - as with supporting a black-owned business solely because it is black-owned - is that it sets up a situation where inferior businesses are allowed to thrive because of who owns them, not based on consumer choice.

Good businesses succeed because they offer good products or services at competitive prices and they fail when they do not.

Providing the right advice, access to venture capital and ensuring that people starting businesses are familiar with good business practices suited to the size of the company are the keys to success and that is true for everyone, whether they are black or white or male or female (another area of economic inequity).

These are areas that Government, banks and the Chamber of Commerce should all be closely involved in, along with the SBDC. It is a matter of mutual interest for the whole community; competition leads lower prices and greater choice for the consumer, and that leads to economic growth. And as the "pie" which politicians are always so interested in sharing grows, there will be more for everyone.

There is one other point in this debate that needs to be continuously raised. Education is a central key to economic success in any society. As columnist Larry Burchall, among others, has pointed out, the 2000 Census shows a direct link between economic success and education.

Whites, partly because of the legacy of segregation and and partly because they have had greater wealth, have also been better educated than blacks. It's no coincidence that they have also had greater economic success. So the long term answer to blacks having a greater share of the Island's wealth is education, education, education. Government and businesses already do a great deal in this area; they can and should do more. It is in everyone's best interest.