Government and Opposition Senators went head to head on race issues during Wednesday's sitting of the Upper House.

Opposition Senate Leader Kim Swan claimed the ruling Progressive Labour Party was trying to polarise the community along race lines while Government Senators countered that the UBP refused to confront its own history or discuss race.

Sen. Swan fired the first shot during the Motion to Adjourn portion of the sitting.

He charged the PLP with damaging the "national psyche" and using race as a "political football".

Sen. Swan challenged Government to read Nelson Mandela's book "Long Walk to Freedom" and follow in the footsteps of the South African leader.

"This (book) is a blueprint," he said. "Government could take a lesson in leading by example and bringing people together."

Sen. Swan said that would be more constructive that "the vindictiveness that's been spewed out over many months".

"Race is a complex issue," he said. "I urge Government to change its approach and look at a better way (rather than) benefiting from the polarisation of the country.

"I urge people to look behind the rhetoric to the real issues that exist in this country."

Sen. Calvin Smith was quick to respond. He questioned why Sen. Swan had raised Mr. Mandela at all.

"Why you want to follow the South African example on the white side or the black side, I am not quite sure," he said. "Bermudians never came close to the South African situation even in our darkest times."

He added there was nothing in the PLP's history or four year record in Government to suggest the party was "trying to segregate whites and take people's property and use it for ourselves".

But, there was slavery and segregation in Bermuda and we're "still fighting today to empower the black majority", he said.

Many colonial societies still suffer from the concept of defining themselves on a scale from black to white.

"We still define each other on the basis of how much white or black we have," Sen. Smith said.

In Bermuda, "we don't even have shades", he added. "One drop (of black) and you're in. You don't even have to prove it.

"If we are trapped into that misconception about who we are, I don't see how we are ever going to get past the race thing."

Everyone has some white in them, Sen. Smith said, "because the slave masters had a ball".

Bermuda has to face its past, he added. "We can't leave race alone because we don't understand it, and we don't even talk about it."

We have to face both the good and bad things about the past, he suggested.

Meanwhile, Sen. Victoria Pearman (PLP) said a number of "Bogeymen" repeatedly surface in Bermuda.

The first is the suggestion that "the PLP, read as African descendants, can't manage money", she said. "But the economy is not failing so instead, they look at how much money we spend."

The second Bogeyman is that "people of African descent have a propensity for crime," Sen. Pearman continued.

This arises when the Opposition charges that the PLP are soft on crime, she said.

If "99 percent of those that sit in prison have a high degree of visibility like me, don't take that to mean people of African descent are more criminally minded", Sen. Pearman said. "There are legacies that have to be addressed."

The current Government is the first that has tried to deal with the causes of crime, she claimed.

And, while Sen. Swan accused the PLP government of damaging the national psyche, Sen. Pearman said nothing had done more to damage the national psyche than the concept of white supremacy.

Despite criticisms, Sen. Pearman said the PLP Government has done very well, "not just for those that look like me but for the country".

And, she said, she prayed the Bogeymen would be put to rest.