Who are we? Second-Generation Panamanians of West Indian descent!
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The Bitter Truth! (Cont'd)
To fast forward, on January 18, 1905, hundreds of young black men left Barbados aboard a steamer bound for Panama. They were the first contract workers dispatched to dig the canal for the U.S. This date, January 18, 1905, should be recognized and celebrated as a holiday for us as a people of WI descent, just as much as November 3, 1903 is. The recruitment process on the Islands foreshadowed the WIs’ second-class treatment as canal laborers. As you know, canal officials divided the work force into two payrolls, skilled and unskilled, termed the gold (whites) and silver (blacks) rolls, a replica of the “Jim Crow” system in the U.S.
Taking another page from the British system, they placed the light-skinned WIs in supervisory positions to coax more work out of black WIs. They also assured constant jealousy amongst the WIs by employing only a third of them on the canal payroll with quarters on the Zone. Canal management established other methods of social control, but the most effective and damaging, in the long term, was the calculated, substandard, and ineffective educational system put in place for the WI children.
The perceived harsher treatments by the Americans caused the WIs to remain loyal to the British Empire and its symbols for almost two generations. The British consuls in Central America went "through the motion" of protecting WIs. Such service from the leading world power undoubtedly gave the WI immigrants a false sense of security in difficult times. Once the British determined their objectives had been met, that is, their subjects had long forgotten they were slaves, it was time to pack up and leave Panama once the first generation of WIs born in Panama (“The Criollos”) came of age.
The Criollos, Panamanian by birth, fluent in Spanish, began making decisions on their own, not having to use the British consul as an intermediary. Leaders in the community began united actions to dismantle the U.S. gold-sliver system with help from abroad, which proved to be effective. Subsequently, however, disruptive competition arose among various leaders, breaking down unity. In particular, Panamanian-born leaders replaced those from the West Indies, and many tried to appear overly patriotic by ignoring their immigrant origin—thus, the beginning of the cultural identity gap in the community. Assimilation and integration were powerful attractions enticing and drawing people away from their WI community. Integration was a mixed blessing, then, for the more secure the Criollos were in Panamanian society; the less influence they manifested as a group.
The cultural identity gap widened, however, when second-generation Panamanians of WI decent (our generation) reached maturity during the 1960s. It was the start of cultural deprivation, juvenile delinquencies, and defiance of authority and poor leadership. Thousands from this generation left for the U.S., creating a void and leaving behind a sense of truncated culture and lost opportunities. Some of the young quickly picked up the language and style of American blacks. They began wearing Afro hairdos and Swahili robes and adopted other symbols of the black power movement. Westerman spoke out vigorously but the youths promptly dismissed him as an “Uncle Tom.” Leonor Jump wrote: “Black identity means more than the natural afro hairdos, afro clothes, lessons in Swahili and exaggerated joy in the quality of blackness. It means developing one’s own political and economic sinew to move for quality education, adequate health and social services, decent housing, and wages that will enable Negroes to provide a decent living for their families, and less dependency on others.” This, of course, fell on deaf ears. (Cont'd)
