In Bermuda race is a loaded word, often followed by "card" or "ist".

Some believe it is best to get to the bottom of historical and modern day racism through making people uncomfortable, others believe it is best to leave well enough alone and focus on public education as a means to equality. But one Bermudian author, Quito Swan, believes it is best to write a book chronicling racial dissent throughout the 1900s and examining the country's recent history of blacks challenging a white oligarchy.

Mr. Swan published a book last month on the evolution of black power on the Island, focusing on the late 1960s and early 1970s. The book 'Black Power in Bermuda the Struggle for Decolonisation' sold out on the Island within two weeks and more copies have now been ordered.

The book largely focuses on the period after the Theatre Boycotts of 1959 but before the race riots that broke out in the aftermath of two black men being hanged in 1977 for murdering white men, including Governor Sir Richard Sharples; a period that saw British troops sent to the Island four times.

And what a fascinating period it was. Young black BELCO workers clashed with Police after going on strike in protest of the company's refusal to allow the Bermuda Industrial Union to represent the workers.

International bodies such as the CIA and M15 kept tabs on local black power activists when they left the Island. The fifth annual Black Power Conference, the first to be held outside of the US, was held in Bermuda, bringing with it activists from across the world. It was organised by the late Roosevelt Brown, the same man who fought to change voting rights to ensure "one person, one vote" and the same man who once called the Queen a whore in the House of Assembly.

When the activists came so did the British troops. The H.M.S. Arethusa and H.M.S. Mohawk, carrying approximately 500 marines, were stationed in the Royal Naval Dockyard due to "internal threats". On the eve of the conference the Progressive Labour Party stated: "Tourists arriving at the airport are greeted by riot squad. Armed policemen are scattered throughout the airport. The CIA, M15, M16 and Interpol are amongst the officials greeting the tourists at the airport."

Military helicopters also made flights over the Island and desert army land rovers, mounted with submachine guns, moved through Hamilton. Soon after the conference, which did not end in violence, a revolutionary group — the Black Beret Cadre — formed. Their aim was to increase black self-sufficiency and they called for an armed struggle to overthrow colonialism if necessary. Black power sentiment further spread across the Island and into public education. Students at the Berkeley Institute protested and demanded black history be introduced to their curriculum. Their protest worked and a teacher from Howard University was hired at the school.

A young man, John Bassett Jr., was locked up for burning the Union Jack in protest of the UK's decision to sell arms to Apartheid South Africa despite international sanctions. The Royal Gazette was successfully sued for libel, along with ZBM and ZFB, by the then Government for printing a statement from a Cadre member questioning the validity of Mr. Bassett's imprisonment. At the same time a group of white men attempted to form an "Anglo Rhodesian Society". It became illegal to carry a copy of the Cadre's paper, and other black power publications deemed "seditious".

And then the murders happened. The first was Bermuda's Police Commissioner George Duckett on September 9,1972

Six months later came the murders of Governor Sir Richard Sharples and his 25-year-old aide-de-camp Captain Hugh Sayers. Both were shot dead on the grounds of Government House. Soon after that Victor Rego and Mark Doe were murdered in an armed robbery.

Larry Tacklyn was found guilty for the murder of Mr. Duckett, Mr. Rego and Mr. Doe. Erskine Durrant (Buck) Burrows was found guilty of murdering the Governor and Capt. Sayers. The FCO believed the cadre was involved in the murders Burrows committed, though Police did not find conclusive evidence to link them. The two men were sentenced to death. Six thousand residents petitioned for clemency, but on December 3, 1977, they were sentenced to be hanged.

Within minutes of the final verdict the frustrations of hundreds and anger with Bermuda's racial inequalities were vented. It did not stop for three days. The crowds who hoped for clemency smashed windows at the Supreme Court and House of Assembly, overturned cars and set fires. Parliament and Victoria streets were a sea of glass after the crowd marched through smashing everything in its way.

At the Transport Control Department a bus was rammed into the building. Businesses owned by white men were set alight. So too was the Southampton Princess after a rumour started that the hangman was staying there. Three people burned to death in the fire. A national curfew was put in place and British troops descended to restore order on the streets of Bermuda

Scattered throughout the book are the names of politicians, civil servants and businessmen. The Foreign & Commonwealth Office saw current Premier Ewart Brown's leadership potential early on. When expressing concern about black power in the Caribbean and Bermuda a 1970 FCO paper stated if "a leader of the calibre of Ewart Brown" emerged, the situation could "become increasingly threatening to security".

Former Attorney General Phil Perinchief is named, not for the first time, as a member of the cadre.

The book is a page-turner littered with snippets of life from the "Long Sixties" a period known for strife, struggle and discontent. It examines Bermuda's colonial relationship, as well as its neocolonial relationship, which Mr. Swan believes is now being driven by Bermuda's elite and international businesses.

Ultimately, Mr. Swan hopes that Bermuda will be an independent nation and believes that by looking back at history people may better understand the current state of politics and the Island The final words of his book outline that vision: "Equipped with a greater knowledge and understanding about this critical period of Bermuda's history, it may be possible to inspire and actualise a vision of Bermuda that is greater than the (neo)colonial quandary that has been left in the shadow of the black power legacy."