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I have the rather strange job of wrapping up the conference in eight minutes.

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Therefore, I'm not really going to do that. I'm going to share with you some takeaways in terms of broad topics that I got out of this conference.

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Before I do that, though, I want to say thank you to Alexa and to Sarah.

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For their hard work. I want to thank and recognise my assistant, my administrative assistant, Mr. Paul Hartman, who has been everywhere today.

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I also want to thank our I.T. department under the leadership of Carmina Hendrickson,

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who made sure that we had everything in place and that it was functioning the way it should.

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So we really appreciate all of their work. Are security guards our facilities department because, you know, the school doesn't clean up itself.

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So we do thank them and please give them a round of applause. And so here is what I heard.

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From the panoply of meals, patterns of resistance occur in the context of oppression and are met with resistance from the oppressors.

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And that reminds me of actually of a quote from Simone de Beauvoir, who says all oppression creates a state of war.

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So the resistance that we see includes numerous tactics, including dividing groups against each other.

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That could be whether you're LGBTQ, pansexual, Omni's sexual, whether you're West Indian,

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whether you're Bermudian, that was a comic relief, whether you're Portuguese.

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It occurs through legislation, through propaganda, through imposing taxes, changing ages and voting rights.

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Through pepper spraying and all kinds of various means.

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Who controls our narrative? Well, we certainly have not been in control of the narrative.

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And that's clear from the fact that many of our children don't have a clue because it's not taught in school.

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Their parents don't know the history. We have to regain control of our narrative.

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We have to be able to tell the story of our history, and it is with deep gratitude that I acknowledge our Bermudian,

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in particular our Bermudian historians who are doing just that.

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It was also striking to me that sometimes it feels like the oppression is directed within the group.

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But it's not just because there are differences within the group,

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it's because we are internalising the structure, the oppressive structure and and aiming that within.

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And that is how we can get to a question that Taj asked about about discrimination within the group or prejudice within the group.

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I was also struck by the fact that there is indeed a legacy of pain, suffering and fear that is the direct result of our experience of our history.

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And I was really struck struck by the fact that Robert Thomas described the situation as a cloak that is cast over our story.

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How damaging that is. Our resistance.

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Is incomplete. When I spoke at the beginning, I talked about patterns of resistance and then plateaus, and the plateaus often occur.

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You know, there's resistance and then there's a period where I said, there's really nothing.

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Part of that occurs because we get complacent. Maybe there's a small gain that occurs.

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And so we kind of go along with everything for a time until something happens that really forces our hand and we really act in resistance once again.

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But we have to understand that those small changes are not sufficient and that once we get a small gain,

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that's not the time to stop the resistance that we have to keep moving.

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And I do believe, Dr. Tancred, that that is the point at which persistence does come into play because it means that,

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yes, we got something here, but we know that the goals are still active and that they haven't been totally achieved.

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So we must persist until they are all realised.

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Another point that was striking to me, and this is very close to home is what happened to the leaders of resistance.

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Sometimes they're misunderstood. Sometimes they are cast or miscast as criminals versus heroes.

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But as you all know, a lot of times, the characterisation all often depends on who wins the war.

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And that over time.

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As the story's become clearer, people who have been misunderstood and miscast will be understood to be the heroes that they have been.

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And that's not to say that we're lifting up murderers in that kind of thing.

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What I'm saying is that our history has not been told in the way that it should be.

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And so we're missing some truth. With that said.

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I want to acknowledge the presence once again of our own heroes, of our of our people who have stood up and are still standing up for us.

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It's good for us to have them here in our midst where we can celebrate them now and acknowledge all of the things that they have done so.

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Mrs. Harvey, Mrs. Maxwell, Dr. Hudson.

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It is really, really important that we, as they say, give the flowers while they can be appreciated.

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And so we're very happy to be able to celebrate you. The other point about leadership and resistance is that when we have those plateaus,

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very often we're looking for and waiting for that individual or those individuals

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who believe me are few and far between who actually have that extra special,

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whatever it is, who will step up and and and provide the kind of leadership to rally people who are just

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waiting for someone to be able to say what they have had on their minds and in their hearts.

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And it is true that that kind of leadership comes at a price.

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There was a book of years ago called The Way Out Monthly and by a fellow named Bill Beardsley.

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And it was about the leadership within the civil rights movement in the United States.

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And what happened to all of those unsung heroes? Many of them ended up in jail.

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They ended up with severe mental health issues. It's not a smooth path.

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So taking that kind of leadership once the struggle seems to be over has severe consequences for those people who are willing to take on the struggle.

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And so we have to appreciate them and celebrate them as well.

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Finally. Where do we go from here? You know, this last session was supposed to be about, you know, examples of transformation.

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And it's interesting to me that it was really a question and answer that just kind of breaks or just chips that the tip

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of the iceberg in terms of raising the questions that could possibly lead us to talk about transformative processes.

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And it is true. It is a process.

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But we are required all of us to make sure that we have that foundation in our history that we go out and read the books.

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Young people make sure you're reading the books, make sure you're searching out the knowledge, make sure you're talking to your elders.

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They will listen to you. Engage them in conversation. Talk to each other.

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Ask your. Your. Your, your your principals.

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Ask the Department of Education. Have you parents call the Department of Education? Ask them to get the university on your campus.

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Ask them to have school programmes with your university. I know I did it at the Berkeley Institute and was highly successful.

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Students need to have an opportunity to learn about our history.

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So with that said, I think that in addition to the things that I mentioned as a collective, we do need to have more opportunities like this.

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We do need to have more conferences. As a college, we need to provide more opportunities for students to study Bermudian history.

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And I'm really happy that we're actually working with Dr. Maxwell and Millersville

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University to bring the Atlantic World Programme here from your college.

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I will be very happy when we get that in place. Upcoming topics.

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Things that I think we should continue talking about. We need to continue talking about power and transformation.

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We need to talk about the path to independence. We need to talk about economics, resilience, agency and empowerment.

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We need to talk about resistance and the arts. I do believe that the arts are very, very important and that's a big part of my life and the arts.

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Without that, we we we lose a part of ourselves.

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As as Dr. Francis mentioned, the arts were a way for us to communicate when we didn't have words,

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and we have to recognise the importance of the arts in our lives and make sure that there is a place for that here in Bermuda.

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We should have a centre for performing arts here that lifts up all of the people that we have who are

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so talented on our island and also and also provides a centre for archiving our musical and theatre,

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theatrical and all arts experiences. And I think that's about it.