Black and white Bermudians have unfinished business, and new Shadow Race Relations Minister David Dodwell wants to take action ensuring everyone starts together at square one.

In an interview with a week after Opposition Leader Grant Gibbons announced that Mr. Dodwell would be relinquishing his post as Shadow Tourism Minister to jumpstart the new role of Shadow Minister of Race Relations and Economic Opportunity, Mr. Dodwell said talk meant nothing without action.

A UBP committee has been meeting and talking specifically about race, sometimes having community and church leaders in to give their viewpoints, for about a year now, Mr. Dodwell said.

?What emerged is that people want to be heard, and they want to hear.?

The UBP hopes the shadow portfolio will facilitate a two-part process. ?Listen ? then act,? Mr. Dodwell said.

?We hope it will put the focus on two things: that the UBP recognises this is important, and that we want to do something.

?We recognise that unless we do something, talk is cheap when it comes to race.? This, he added, is the ?unfinished business? between blacks and whites which Dr. Gibbons mentioned in his original statement announcing the post.

Mr. Dodwell already had a list of a few of the actions he would like to take ? focusing on economic empowerment so that all Bermudians start together at square one. ?Some people clearly need to be lifted to get to an even playing field.?

The ideas focused on small businesses, he said, both existing and new ? particularly black small businesses.

Some ideas floated included tax breaks, Government contracts, even ideas like guaranteeing Government payment within 30 days.

Another idea was the concept of a venture capital fund: a fund invested in by both the private and public sector which would then be managed and dispersed to small businesses that are legitimate borrowers, both for public and private ventures.

A Government-sponsored loan programme ? with Government standing as guarantors for small businesses seeking bank loans ? also made the list.

The building of CedarBridge Academy was a better example than the building of the new senior secondary school for the function of these ideas, he said, characterising the Berkeley/Pro-Active contract as a ?big? venture while the CedarBridge job was sub-contracted out to about 80 small businesses.

The Pro-Active/Berkeley story, he added, was ?a separate story about mismanagement?. ?CedarBridge worked ? that was a great example of it all.?

Better economic education in schools was another initiative he suggested, while designated economic empowerment zones would give many small businesses a leg-up. Any businesses setting up in North Hamilton, for example, could be given certain tax breaks, he said.

The final kicker, he said, was affordable housing. Government could (and now is making some attempts to) contribute by way of reduced land taxes or duty reliefs, enabling the private sector to build less expensive products which can then be sold, financed or rented for less.

Describing himself as a ?facilitator? and a ?sounding board?, Mr. Dodwell noted that as Opposition, the UBP clearly does not have as much power to act as they would like. ?All these things ? we can?t do them.?

That, he said, is where the community will come in. ?We have to get the community to decide first if they want to do them, and second, to do them.?

Feedback has been positive, he said. Since Dr. Gibbons made the announcement, Mr. Dodwell has received phone calls from Bermudians supporting the move, including at least three that he characterised as ?traditionally PLP supporters?. He has also had ?a good sense of support from various members of Government? on the idea.

If the UBP did become Government, he added, the portfolio absolutely would not disappear: the Island could have its first Minister of Race Relations. ?The words could change around, but it would be a part of Government.?

What colour the facilitator is, Mr. Dodwell said, should not matter. As he is white, however, he said his race could be an advantage: a white person examining the injustices of the past may show a greater recognition that there is a problem.

?Whites need to acknowledge, respect and understand the past ? in particular, white Bermudians,? he said. ?It?s not enough to say well, it didn?t happen on my watch.?

His sense, he said, was that black Bermudians want to feel people do acknowledge, respect and understand the shared history. Their jobs will be to ensure their voices are heard, and be ready to build trust with the other side.

The process can take place both in the public arena and outside of the spotlight, giving people the freedom to speak openly. Mr. Dodwell said he also hopes to speak with the private sector on the issues.

Many believe there are two groups in Bermuda, he said: black and white. However there is a third, ?larger group?, he said, ?of blacks and whites who really and genuinely want it to work, who get along well together ... The goal is to bring the outside groups into that.?

He did not believe the divide between blacks and whites has worsened over the past few years, but that the nature of the divide has perhaps changed.

?Whether it?s worse or better is a matter of individual perception. You can?t take a barometer on this.

?Where there is divide, it is more vocal and closer to the surface. Progress has been made, the greatest progress is in personal relationships ... We ought to celebrate that, but recognise there is a long way to go. It?s progress, but it?s not success.?