Pa. swim club accused of racism to ask kids back

Antonio81 · 13 Jul 2009, 11:05 AM

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090713/...lub_minorities

Quote:

PHILADELPHIA – A private suburban swim club accused of racism after it canceled the memberships of dozens of minority children says it will seek a meeting with the kids' camps to work out an agreement for them to return.

Amy Goldman, a member of The Valley Club, said those able to attend a hastily called meeting Sunday afternoon voted unanimously in support of reinstating the memberships of the Creative Steps day camp and two other camps as long as safety issues, times and terms can be agreed upon.

The Creative Steps camp had arranged for 65 mostly black and Hispanic children to swim each Monday afternoon at the gated Huntingdon Valley club, which is on a leafy hillside in a village straddling two overwhelmingly white townships. But after the group arrived June 29, camp director Alethea Wright said, several children reported hearing racial comments and some swim club members pulled their children out of the pool.

The camp's $1,950 was refunded a few days later.

The president of the swim club's board of directors, John Duesler, has said the decision was made out of safety considerations, not racial concerns.

"We have near-unanimous approval from our membership, so at this point we'll be figuring out ... how to approach all the camps and see how we can move forward," Duesler told WPVI-TV at the club's entrance on Sunday.

The swim club has claimed it has a diverse, multiethnic membership, but Goldman, a member for two years, said she couldn't remember seeing a black member this year.

Goldman said members were told that the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, which has opened an investigation, is to make a fact-finding visit to the club July 30. U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., said Friday he had asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate "to determine what action, if any, is warranted by the Civil Rights Division."

Others to criticize the club include the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the United States' highest-profile black swimmer, Olympic gold medalist Cullen Jones, who said Thursday that "hearing about what's happened to these 65 kids is both disturbing and appalling."

Chuck Wielgus, executive director of USA Swimming, the governing body for the U.S. swim team, said he was stunned by the accusations against the club.

Wright, the camp director, didn't immediately return a telephone call seeking comment Sunday evening. She said earlier that other institutions had offered to host her group at their pools for the summer.

Camp parent Silvia Carvalho said she hadn't heard about the club's action but didn't believe her 9-year-old daughter, Araceli, would be willing to return.

"She has already said so," Carvalho said Sunday night. "She doesn't want people to look at her the same way."

Claymore · 13 Jul 2009, 12:05 PM

"safety concerns" - oh, so that's what they're calling it these days.

Mel Brennan · 13 Jul 2009, 01:03 PM

This tension between ostensible urbs and suburbs outside Philly has always existed...if other clubs have emerged to host the camp, why go back?

If white people want to separate themselves from others, go on...what's that? They still want these folks' money? They still set up their businesses in the midst of their communities? They still want them to work for them? They still want all the benefits of an explitative relationship with them, but the idea of equality in an intimate setting, liek a pool. disabuses them of the notion that they can have their hateful cake and eat it too?

Oh...

MattR · 13 Jul 2009, 01:29 PM

You know, on the face of it, this stinks. A class of 25 or so African-American kids decend upon a lily-white private club and are kicked out.

That being said, "safety concerns" is a legitimate problem. I was a lifeguard back in the day, and our suburban pool club usually had 3 lifeguards, two on duty at any given time, and there were maybe 20-30 kids in the pool. Double that, add in the fact that some of the children probably don't have much experience swimming, or around the pool in general, and I can see the club's concerns.

We had at our pool a strict "no running" policy. For whatever reason, some girl that was African-American, about 11 years old, was running laps around the pool. About 10 or 11 times I asked her to "please stop running, there is no running near the pool." Her mother came up to me and started cursing that I was a racist asshole. Granted, I was a 15 year old lifeguard at a private swim club in the middle of nowhere.

I wish I could report I calmly explained that running near the pool was a rule that all lifeguards everywhere take seriously, but instead I screamed "what are you talking about, lady, you're kid is the only one that's running around, what's your problem?" Luckily one of the head lifeguards backed me up.

I understand that there is racism in the world, and I can see that there is a safety concern as well. I don't doubt that "safety" could be hiding the fact that the pool "doesn't want your little black children running around our pool."

Perhaps my experience long ago has clouded my judgement. I guess I can't be a Supreme Court Justice anytime soon.

DoctorD · 13 Jul 2009, 01:44 PM

I was a member of a pool board. We had a strict "no day camp" policy even when we were facing financial difficulties. The kid to chaparone ratio is simply too high. It's bad enough with negligent parents who don't watch their kids.

Mikeshi · 13 Jul 2009, 02:01 PM

It's completely understandable that the Club had no idea of any safety concerns or safety measures needed before they signed the camp up and before the campers actually showed up.

The math was just too difficult to do.

It took the kids being there to actually figure it out.

I'm buying it.

Makes perfect sense to me.

superdave · 13 Jul 2009, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattR

That being said, "safety concerns" is a legitimate problem.

How come it wasn't a legitimate problem when the club signed the agreement?

fatbastard · 13 Jul 2009, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by superdave

How come it wasn't a legitimate problem when the club signed the agreement?

After they signed the agreement, it (in my mind) was up to them to ensure that it would not be a safety concern, by staffing the proper number of lifeguards.
Unless the number of camp chaperones was not at the agreed-upon level (assuming there was one), then it would be the day-camp's fault.