A Lesson in Full-on Racism for Kids

[Caveat Emptor]

Day camp pays $1900 so their kids can swim at club pool. Black kids start to swim, whites clear out, black kids ejected - "they might change the complexion of the pool."

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/...omplexion.html

[Greenday]

You're rephrasing what the president of the swim club said to make it sound much worse than what he said.

"There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club," John Duesler, President of The Valley Swim Club said in a statement.

Basically, he's saying that too many kids could make it unruly in there and they don't want that. At that point, you just have to make your assumptions from the facts.

[Pedersen]

Greenday, that quite neatly ignores the fact that they knew it was a bunch of kids coming in at the time they made the sale.

[DesignFox]

I don't know what to make of this. The president's statement doesn't sound racist on its own...but the reaction from the club members sure does...

I mean, I guess the club has to cave to its members, but...but...geez! The camp PAID. What's people's problems?

I need more information...before I can judge. I get wary of anyone or any group crying racism lately.

That said, this article certainly makes it seem like the club members just didn't want a bunch of black kids around...and I don't really understand that...

[Greenday]

Greenday, that quite neatly ignores the fact that they knew it was a bunch of kids coming in at the time they made the sale.

Yea, I know, I was just pointing out that if you're going to quote someone, at least don't change their words.

[Slytovhand]

I got the impression it was about a bunch of kids... race/background/ethinicity/eyecolour/handedness/etc irrelevant...

Did the camp actually point out that they were thinking of having 65 kids go to the pool at once? That's quite a lot of kids in any one time - especially if there are other members trying to use the pool as well!

As for the racist comments - yeah, as the president said - the statements of 1 person shouldn't be held as those for the club (which means.. a reprimand needs to be made if the staff member did say something out of line). If it was general public... well, sorry kids, racism isn't going to be stamped out overnight...

[Boozy]

From the article:

The pool attendants came and told the black children that they did not allow minorities in the club and needed the children to leave immediately.

Pool attendants are employees of the club, and presumably voicing the policy of the club.

The club had to have known damned well that there would be 60 or so kids from the camp using the pool when they sold the package. How else would they have figured out pricing? The issue is not that they were children, or that there were so many. The issue is that the club didn't know they were black children until they showed up.

Have we all become so jaded and cynical that even the most blatant cases of racism are called into question? I understand that we're used to hearing the "race card" used in silly and inappropriate situations. But come on! This is racism if I've ever seen it.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/...With-Race.html

The club members are now saying that race didn't have anything to do with it, and that the regular club members complained to management when they found out the club was offering pool use to whole camps of children at once, which was overcrowding the pool.

"This has nothing to do with race," member Lori Slowinski said. "I paid my money for a private swim club…if they're gonna have it out to camps, then I want my money back."

I've read several different articles and they all say different things about who was making racist remarks---some said it was the employees, others said it was the parents. I think the problem is that everyone is making wild accusations and the media is of course taking it for all its worth. it's difficult to know exactly what happened.

[DesignFox]

<snip>
Have we all become so jaded and cynical that even the most blatant cases of racism are called into question?

Yes. I am jaded and cynical at this point. I'm sick of people crying that they've been discriminated against for [insert random reason] when in reality, that reason has nothing to do with what happened.

This new article even points out that there are minority members of the club. So, it is not a "white's only" facility by policy or by even by accident. All kinds of people are members.

Perhaps some people present that day made racist remarks. But we're to judge an entire club, staff and membership by the crappy actions of one or two people? Who may or may not have been overheard correctly by the children to begin with?

If 65 kids swarmed down to the pool at once, I could definitely see the members being upset.

If they were not given warning that a camp would be using the facilities that day, and they fully expected to be there with only a handful of other members...I mean, come on! I'd be pissed! It would have nothing to do with the campers skin color. It would be that I'm expecting to use the facility that I paid to use privately suddenly over-run with 65 children!

That's insane.

I don't think we'd even have heard about this if this club wasn't in Philly and the kids involved were mostly white.

There's two sides of the coin here, and I'm glad we've got another article showing some of it.

Now, if a staff member of the club did make a racist remark, and it can be proven that they made a racist remark, that person should suffer consequences. Because that *is* total shit.

Any club members that made racist remarks should be ashamed of themselves, but let's face it- freedom of speech works both ways.

I truly believe the president's statement is being taken out of context. He should not have used the word complexion...but then no matter which way I write the sentence it doesn't sound any better to those who truly would want to misinterpret it.

I worked at a summer camp. I know we didn't allow more than 65 kids in the pool at once- and our facility was DESIGNED for campers!