On behalf of the members and staff of The Corporation of Hamilton I welcome you to Barr's Bay Park.

I would like to thank our distinguished guests for joining us this evening, His Excellency the Governor Sir Richard Gozney, The Premier, Dr The Honourable Ewart Brown, JP, MP, The Minister for Social Rehabilitation and Culture Neletha Butterfield, the Leader of the Opposition Mr Kim Swan, JP, MP., Mr. Chesley Trott, Mr. Glenn Fubler from Imagine Bermuda, Mr Ross Smith of the Bermudian Heritage Museum, Descendants of the 72 people who were rescued from the Enterprize, Past aldermen and councillors, ladies and gentlemen.

This month we have a lot to celebrate. Last Thursday we marked the 50th anniversary of the opening of City Hall, Hamilton's icon building, home to the administrative offices of the Corporation of Hamilton, two galleries and vibrant theatre.

Please, come up and see the exhibitions in City Hall's foyer. These exhibits focus on the building's past, present and future and will change every other month.

February is also Black History Month, celebrated throughout the US and recognised in Bermuda. I want to acknowledge that the 11th of February was the 20th anniversary of the release of Nelson Mandela from Robbin Island. Mr. Mandela is an international hero, a man with immense humanity and integrity, who helped his nation confront its dark past and forge a new destiny.

As some of you may be aware, the Enterprize and the freedom schooner Amistad are linked in history. Had the celebrations gone ahead last week as planned, we would have the Amistad docked behind us. However due to the winter storm that battered the island we were forced to postpone the event and the Amistad is enjoying our two port Bermuda tourist experience. We are happy to know that some of the members of the crew have left the Town of St George to join us tonight.

Some of you would have seen the re-enactment last week of the events of February 1835 in which some 100 plus schoolchildren took part. We were even able to replicate the weather.

On behalf of the Corporation of Hamilton I extend my sincere thanks to everyone who participated in the event bringing life to our history and a sense of pride to young and old.

Tonight's celebration is an opportunity for us as a community to stop and acknowledge an epic moment in our past. The arrival in Bermuda's waters 175 years ago of the slave ship Enterprize and the freeing of 72 people who were given refuge at a time when for them, their lives held no future.

Tonight we are celebrating a slice of Bermuda's heritage, sadly not widely known, while a part of some families' proud heritage, held secret by others. This event should be celebrated as a proud moment of what we collectively had once brought about, could similarly achieve today and should attain tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow and the day after that.

That fateful week in February 1835, between the 11th and the 18th was a time when people- who may not have known the role they would play in history, who may not have known they would be called upon to intervene and shape the destiny of families for generations to come, who may not have known they would become heroes to a country who all could have excused themselves into the simplicity of disregard and ignorance yet they stepped forward to help their fellow man because in their own minds it was morally right.

By the time the Enterprize arrived in Bermuda's waters, Emancipation had taken place less than a year before and this freedom was still a generation away from being in the United States. Our forefathers, black and white, took the chance to make a difference in the lives of people who had been free, were kidnapped, held hostage, all with the intent of being re-enslaved.

Those who had been slaves just months before used the powers of their newborn freedom to approach Bermuda's courts with a writ of habeas corpus, those who had been slave owners took it upon themselves to turn their back to this vile practice and ensure those now enslaved should enjoy as the Chief Justice of that time informed all 78 slaves, "that in this country you are free – free as any white person" and offered them Bermuda as a home. All except a woman and her five children stayed.

When we look back at the history of Bermuda, we must acknowledge we have had some wonderful successes and triumphs, equally, we are a nation that has been divided and still bears the scars of slavery and the many decades of segregation and inequality that followed. We continue to grapple with finding a way forward that in many ways attempts to right the wrongs perpetrated by those whose ulterior motive was to maintain their position based on a system of subjugation.

I stand before you, a white, male Bermudian, seven generations worth, more if you take a zig or a zag. Is it appropriate for me to mark the unveiling of a monument to those who arrived in slavery? Some would deem it to be more appropriate for me to be colour blind and say race doesn't matter, or colour no longer matters in today's society.

But Race and colour does matter.

And as uncomfortable as it may be, until we can all admit we have a problem, a shared solution won't be found. We are as strong as our weakest link and if one of us is hurting, then we must address the causes of that hurt and move forward together towards one vision.

Mandela in May 1994, four years after his freedom, said in his inauguration speech:

"The time for the healing of the wounds has come. The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come. The time to build is upon us."

In seeking to find a way forward as a community, rather than setting another course off into the unknown, we have to recognise the best we each bring to the table, identify our strengths, understand what unites us and define what we want and where we want to be. And once we can clearly articulate our destination, draw a line back to where we are today. With exceptional effort exceptional results will be achieved.

We will become a better individual, neighbour, friend and people.

That is why tonight a sculpture, originally commissioned to mark the arrival of slaves into Bermuda, in all their misery, loss, woe. Yet cast in bronze to signify their natural majesty and pride, will as of tonight commemorate the last known slaves arriving to Bermuda, lost, bewildered, powerless and yet embraced by our island, by each of our forefathers as free and equal citizens.

True just one moment of collective perfection encaptured within generations of missed opportunities. Too soon did the cynicism of "Some being more equal than others" would become a reality. Yet, if there is a story that has a potential to bring us all together this is the one.

And so we celebrate.

My thanks to the many who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure this evening's success. Danilee Trott, Thomas Lightbourn, Glen Fubler My friend Mr. Chesley Trott who is one of Bermuda's national treasures and the artist who was commissioned by my predecessor, Mayor Sutherland Madeiros, to create the statue, We Arrive, that will forever commemorate a time and people where history was made and where a new life, destiny, opportunity and home were offered to 72 newly freed brothers, sisters, sons and daughters.