Monthly Archives: April 2009

In The Matter of Employment

Samuel H. Whyte
President of the PCWIEA,
a Silver Employee Labor Organization


Edited by Lydia M. Reid

While the Silver workers and their families were entering the urban areas of the major cities in ever greater numbers and settling down as they adapted to their new found neighborhoods in the areas of Calidonia, Marañon, and the City of Colon and its Silver communities, there was a great deal happening within the ranks of the Westindian Silver employees. Their right to employment was being shaken to its very core- had been for decades- and several brave and perceptive leaders in the Silver community were not willing to remain silent while their human rights as citizens were being violated. Continue reading

The Language and Nuances of the Putdown

I now lived in Casa Magnolia with my two aunts and my grandmother, Fanny.

I had, at the time, just started living with two of my paternal aunts and grandmother in the now famous “Casa Magnolia” one of the largest structures of its time on the corner of “P” Street and Mariano Arosemena Street of the San Miguel Barrio. The building was situated not far from where I had grown up until the age of nine years surrounded by loving playmates and adult neighbors we had known since we were very small kids from Colon. Continue reading

The Westindian Panamanian Roots- Recalling My Grandfathers

Casino and Hotel Venetto

There is a building boom going on in
Panama and they can thank my
pioneering grandparents, The Silver People,
for it. Top photo is just one example of the
mushrooming new skyscrapers, banks,
shopping malls, hotels, casinos etc., that are
going up faster than anyone can keep track.
Bottom photo is a view of the new and changing
Panama City skyline as seen from the walls
of the French Embassy in old San Felipe (Casco Viejo).


I’ll never tire of saying it but I’ve always believed that we Westindian Panamanians are a very unique people. Of such strong mettle we the
Silver Men, the Panamanian Westindian, have evolved. Continue reading