on the Island, a top US politician told guests at a Progressive Labour Party banquet at the weekend.

And Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters said Bermudians had to stand up for themselves and insist on Island ownership and top management.

But Rep. Waters said: "It's only going to happen because you decide that -- not only do you have a right to ownership, to be part of that top management, but that you are going to make it happen.'' She was speaking at the Southampton Princess banquet to mark the end of the PLP's 29th annual conference on Saturday night.

Rep. Waters referred to the recent controversy surrounding alleged racist remarks made by top executives at the American oil company Texaco.

She said some maintained there was no need for affirmative action programmes.

But she added: "Too often people in high places, chief executive officers and others who make determinations about people's ability to move up, think about these people in those terms.

"Understanding this, you know that many of these young folks are prepared. We know they come out ready to take on the world -- but they may never realise their potential as human beings if you don't break down these barriers of racism and discrimination you heard in the high offices of Texaco.'' But she added: "It's not quotas -- it's about setting goals and timetables....without affirmative action you have no way of measuring.

"Affirmative action should be seen simply as an opportunity to open doors which have been closed and you don't even know it.

"We have got that work to do in the United States and guess what? You have got that work to do in Bermuda.'' She added that Los Angeles and Bermuda -- together with other parts of the world -- suffered "racism and discrimination in the criminal justice system''.

Rep. Waters said: "You cannot have justice unless it represents the interests and thinking of all concerned.'' She said Police officers must be representative of the communities they serve -- and slammed the appointment of English Police Commissioner Colin Coxall and the redundancy -- now under appeal in the courts -- of former Assistant Commissioner Wayne Perinchief.

She added: "You cannot have Commissioners none of whom look like those who make up the majority.'' And she warned: "These boys that sit on the wall, they can go in either direction. These boys that sit on the wall could be your worst nightmare.'' Rep. Waters said the justice system had to recognise that young people get into trouble and should on ways to divert them from clashing with the law and "get them back into school''.

She added: "You will never have enough prison space to put them all in if you do nothing but sit there and watch them get angrier and angrier and more hostile.'' Rep. Waters, whose district includes South Central Los Angeles, is a member of the House committees on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs and the Judiciary Committee.

She also serves on the Congressional Banking sub-Committee on Housing and Commmunity Opportunities and the Banking Sub-Committee on Capital Markets, Securities and Government-sponsored Enterprises.

She served 14 years as in the California State Assembly, rising to chairman of the Democratic Caucus and was responsible for the largest divestiture of state pensions funds from businesses involved in apartheid South Africa and affirmative action legislation, opening up state contracting opportunities to women-owned and minority businesses.

Rep. Waters is also a co-founder of the Black Women's Forum, a non-profit organisation involving more than 1,200 African-American women in the Los Angeles area.

Rep. Maxine Waters