Sen. E.T. (Bob) Richards' column in yesterday's warns that Bermuda's black middle class is shrinking and he says the facts confirm there is a growing gap between rich and poor.

Sen. Richards draws his conclusions from last year's CURE report, which showed that black Bermudians made up a greater proportion of those with incomes below $25,000 last year than in previous years.

It is no surprise that black families tend to earn less than their white counterparts. A plethora of studies, from the recent Household Expenditure Survey to the Employment Bulletin to the Census, have proven that time and time again.

What is of concern is that the gap seems not be narrowing, and even if it is, progress is glacial.

As Sen. Richards pointed out, the ramifications of that extend into every part of life in Bermuda.

If public schools are not seen as providing a quality education, then only the wealthier parts of the community can be assured of getting the same quality education through private schools.

If poverty is linked to crime, drugs and gangs, then this will affect the black community disproportionately, although the entire community will be hurt. If the costs of housing and health care are rising faster than inflation, then the poor will be most severely affected.

The Household Expenditure Survey showed that housing costs have risen faster in the last decade than inflation, and the costs of other goods. On average, households spent more than a third of their incomes on housing in 2004, a up from a little more than a quarter in 1993.

It is likely that among poorer (mainly black) households, the proportion is even higher ? and for single parent families, again mainly black, the burden will be even greater.

That in turn means that these households have less disposable income to spend on the other necessities of life like clothing, health care, food and transport, let alone "luxuries" like private education which may hold the key to a better life.

It is undeniable that poverty in Bermuda is relative. Compared to the slum-dwellers of Calcutta or Rio, almost all Bermudians are well off.

But Bermuda offers the promise of something more than survival, and it is failing to deliver on that promise. The problem is not that some Bermudians are poorer than others. That is the way of the world. The problem is that lack of progress in ending institutional racism and the increasing costs of basic needs destroy hope and give way to cynicism and anger.

So it should be no surprise when young people, again mainly black, are angry and see no future for themselves, in spite of the fact that Bermuda is one of the wealthiest nations in the world.

To be sure, there is anecdotal evidence of people having brought their problems on themselves, and it is also fair to say that transforming the segregated society of mid-20th Century to one in which equal opportunity is real and genuine.

Sen. Richards also pointed out another stark statistic from last year's CURE survey. There are 33 percent more whites than blacks with advanced degrees but there are 98 percent more whites than blacks with senior management and executive jobs. This, he said, is clear evidence of institutional racism at work. That's hard to deny, since the gap is so wide. It can be tempered with arguments that it takes time for people, black or white, with advanced degrees or not, to climb to senior management positions.

But that does not remove the fact that the gap remains and is proving difficult to shrink. Last year, the Government decided to merge the CURE Survey results with the Employment Bulletin.

Sen. Richards has criticised this decision, and he is right to. While it may have made sense from an efficiency point of view, changes in how the statistics are treated has resulted in great difficulty in comparing opportunity and attainment between the races, except to state what is already known; that whites earn more than blacks. Without meaningful statistics which are re-surveyed from year to year, it is impossible to determine if there has been progress or regression in this important area. Without being able to track changes, you can't make good decisions.

And on a subject as crucial as race and opportunity, good decisions are needed more than ever.