Bermuda urgently needs a frank conversation about race relations, One Bermuda Alliance Senator Jeff Baron told the Upper House at the close of debate.

“Are we there yet? We may not be there yet, but certainly we need to get there,” Sen Baron said, calling for a more reasoned debate on the topic after he had seen inflammatory comments online.

The recent racist massacre of black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina had prompted renewed talk on race, he said.

“My plea here is to try and call off the inciteful and hateful language without giving up the reality that we have to have these conversations.”

Diallo Rabain, the Opposition Leader in the Senate, related some of his own bitter experiences with racism as a student in Florida, and said white Bermudians needed to get to grips with their own privilege.

“It’s a 100-yard race, and the white community is already at the 50-yard line,” he said, also chastising the OBA for “not appearing to govern for this entire country”.

OBA Senator Vic Ball protested that Sen Rabain’s words did not appear to be conciliatory, but Progressive Labour Party Senator Marc Daniels commended Sen Baron for speaking up and said he wished more in the OBA would follow suit. Sen Baron had referred to the “Big Conversation” initiative put forward under the PLP administration, Sen Daniels noted.

“When we had the Big Conversation, it was met with contempt and ridicule, largely by the white community,” he said. “This country is racially divided, to its foundation and its core.”

Sen Daniels said the OBA had a greater power to make a difference with Bermuda’s troubled racial dynamics and said he hoped Sen Baron would “take up the mantle within his own party”.

“I look forward to new pieces of legislation and policy from the OBA Government,” he said.