Bermuda's racial problems, hoping that if we face problems, then progress can be made to overcoming those problems.

In doing this, we have been approached by a number of people who want to express their opinions. From time to time we will write about those opinions because we think it is healthy. There is a danger for us because far too often those who discuss race are branded as racist.

Most recently, this newspaper has been getting a growing number of complaints from white Bermudians who say they are disturbed, and even offended, by some things now taking place in Bermuda. There are claims made to us regularly about the content of some of the letters written by black Bermudians to our Letters to the Editor column and those comments are then expanded to include other areas where Bermudian whites have problems. None of this is to say that there are no offensive letters written by whites because there are, the most recent horrible Hitlerian example appearing last week in our sister newspaper.

Basically, what some whites say is that the restrictive philosophy of the human rights legislation, with which they agree, is applied to whites and to the activities of whites and is largely adhered to but is not applied to blacks or to black activities. Whites feel that if they said or did some of the things complained of, they would be publicly condemned.

They complain to this newspaper that we allow black letter writers to say things which are offensive to whites and, specifically, quite often offensive to Bermudians of Portuguese descent. The allegation is that many of the statements would be considered to contravene the law if written by whites and that, in any case, might not be published by The Royal Gazette as offensive to blacks.

They also point out, sometimes very strongly, that events are promoted for blacks which are openly segregated against whites. Most recently people have been pointing out the advertised black seniors golf tournament. They also point out such things as black achievement awards and black scholarships which are advertised as being for black students. Blacks feel that they were excluded from the main stream for a very long time and need such events to build black recognition and to recognise black achievement in order to catch up with whites.

The white argument, of course, is that the Human Rights Act guards against discrimination and exclusion but is applied in such a way that it is acceptable to be exclusively black but not acceptable to be exclusively white.

Most, if not all, of the people who do this pointing out are in favour of unity and do not appear to be racists. They say that these activities are dividing Bermuda and are allowed to go on doing so. Most of them maintain that until we can begin to ignore race as a factor in our daily activities there is a barrier to progress and togetherness.

It seems to us that most of these people are amiably, if not actively, disposed toward progress and interested in seeing Bermuda overcome its racial problems and any racial barriers. We think the white public generally is no longer in denial and has accepted that Bermuda still has racial problems and that the "glass ceiling'' is there and has to be removed.

The concern of whites arises from what they see as a double standard. They believe that this double standard could turn into a situation which will prolong the racial divisions in Bermuda. Are they sincere about this? We think they are as sincere as Bermuda's history and complicated social structure allows them to be.