Premier Ewart Brown told the white community they can contribute to Bermuda — as long as they don't react negatively when blacks speak out about the past.

In a speech at Saturday night's Trailblazer Awards ceremony to salute the 1959 Theatre Boycott protesters, Dr. Brown told the audience: "I say to my white brothers: you can make a wonderful contribution to the move forward, if you will resist the temptation to speak negatively when you hear black people speak pain. It's going to take a long time before the pain goes away and we can step forward free of that pain."

The Premier alluded to an interview he gave to the BBC World Service shortly after the 2007 General Election, in which he was challenged about his perceived failure to embrace whites in Bermuda.

At that time Dr. Brown said whites' discomfort was a necessary risk that had to be taken for the Island to heal from centuries of slavery and racial segregation.

Some people have accused the Premier of using racial rhetoric to keep Bermuda divided for political purposes, but on Saturday night he said blacks raise questions of inequality because "there's a history".

To the predominantly black audience at the Fairmont Southampton Princess, he continued: "I urge you not to stop believing. If you do that, the best solution for race relations is a failure to discuss race relations.

"You have to mature and look at this subject like we do any other, and not be afraid of losing your friendship because you speak of race."

The event was set up by the Bermuda Race Relations Initiative and CURE, to honour the Progressive Group, which organised the protests outside theatres in 1959 that broke the back of the Island's segregation policy.

Progressive Group spokesman Will Francis said: "We who then were so afraid of being punished by the Government for our actions are now being honoured by this Government for those very same actions."

Historian Ira Philip, who was a reporter of the Bermuda Recorder at the time of the Theatre Boycott, gave a speech recalling how the rest of the mainstream media gave "sanctification to the Bermuda brand of apartheid".

Mr. Philip said: "It is my firm belief that the awareness generated by The Recorder's coverage of the incidents I have mentioned and other corrupt and undemocratic practices contributed towards the mindset that galvanised progressive minded people into corrective action. If it didn't, it should have!"

Tributes and a presentation were also made to late Health Minister Nelson Bascome.

Culture Minister Neletha Butterfield gave a rundown of Mr. Bascome's community work and said: "Nelson truly loved Bermuda and its people. His mark will not soon be forgotten, for his impact spanned generations."

Opposition Leader Kim Swan said in a statement: "As leader of the United Bermuda Party, I am proud that some of our early leaders came from within the same Progressive Group who were honoured."

Mr. Swan said Stanley Ratteray and Lancelot Swan, both members of the Progressive Group, were part of Sir Henry Tucker's first Cabinet.

"Notwithstanding we owe all of the members of the Progressive Group a debt of gratitude for their collective act and wisdom — as it was their joint efforts with the Progressive Group that took place more than 50 years ago leading up to and after 1959, that made a significant difference to our island and all of our lives," said Mr. Swan.