The Panamanian News Media Speaks Out Against Racism

The famous Norman Rockwell painting
that underscored the highly charged school
desegregation issue in the U.S. Panama was
dealing with the problem long before with the
case of the Westindian children.

The meeting between Westindian parents and the Spanish teachers in my school, Pedro J. Sosa, it seemed, was only just the beginning in the battles against racism in our schools here in Panama. The battle cry went out amongst all Black parents that were having difficulties with harassment from school authorities regarding the acceptance of their children in publicly funded schools.

In the meantime the hostile attitude of the public school teachers would have deleterious effects on bilingual education in the country’s educational system as well as on the integration of thousands of children of Westindian ancestry.

The Westindian community in the Capital City of Panama, however, would soon find that they had some strong supporters amongst the Spanish people of the barrios in which they had resided since before Panama became a republic.

Even before the Westindian parents could find the courage to ask for assistance in the matter, help was on the way in the form of a committee of citizens which had been forming to address the problem once and for all. There were also articles addressing the topic that appeared in the local print media. One such newspaper was the daily “La Hora,” which was edited by Archimedes Fernandez, a highly respected newspaperman of his day. Its editorial of the 22 of May 1948 was very outspoken in its vehement stance against racism. It stated in effect:

“That the final assimilation of thousands of our citizens, would have to first make them pariahs in their own country, an ethnic group of our own nationality. For them then to suffer racial discrimination is a singularly abusive event. Assimilation really for all children should start when the children reach school age.”

The Citizens’ Committee, in preparing for a meeting with the President of the Republic, would address the issue of race discrimination against Westindian children in public education.

It was a turbulent time in Panamanian politics since the presidential tenure of Enrique Adolfo Jimenez Brin (provisional President at the time) came to an abrupt end on 1 October 1948 only to be replaced in quick succession by Enrique de Obarrio, Domingo Diaz Arosemena, Daniel Chanis Pinzón, Roberto Francisco Chiari Remón, and Arnulfo Arias Madrid all in a matter of fifteen months. I recall it as the mucha bala times ( a lot of bullets) since the political disorder in the Presidencia in San Felipe often degenerated into shootouts between the opposition and the officialists in their precarious seat of power, and we could hear the horrific prah…prah…prah from our homes in Wachipali on several nights. It almost got to be a customary sound at times and the populace was not at all surprised by the violent political outbursts.

The list of members accepted by the community to sit in on this visit were: Mr. Lesley T. Williams, Mr. George W. Westerman, Mr. Oscar Cragwell, and Mr. Arturo LeConte for The Panama Tribune; Señora Otilia Arosemena de Tejeira was Advisor to the Committee. Also at the meeting were the Minister of Education, Manuel Varela J., the Director of Primary School Education, Professor Ovideo de Leon and the Inspector for Primary School Education, Mr. Manuel C. Celerín.

There existed a segment of the population, however, that remained concerned that the Westindian community would receive positive attention for their demands. Despite the La Hora’s convictions, the other daily newspapers of the day would receive favorable and a larger amount of unfavorable comments from their readership regarding the subject of inclusion of Westindian youngsters in Panamanian public schools.

Life, however, would go on without changes for Westindian Black youngsters, who, all too often, did not attend any school at all.

This story will continue.