Pennsylvania Swim Club Accused Of Racism To Ask Minority Kids Back

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."

Comments

[totalliberal]

Then white Republicans wonder why black people don't go along with their paternalistic, Jim Crow attitudes. Well us Democratic whites understand why.

[robXdion]

bwwahahahahahahahaha!!! Some funny stuff! Thanks for the laugh! When it comes to blacks (and on a bad day, latinos too) white Dems use the same playbook when they need to advance themselves or can't have their way. Dems can be underhandedly paternalistic. Repubs are just outright insulting.

[MikeHermit]

True or not. One thing Dems have to concern themselves with is their black, gay, latino, atheist, women constituents. Repubs don't have many such constituents to have to pander to. Birds of a feather generally.

[chronic]

Not exactly true but I see your point.

We witnessed this with many of the Hillary supporters during the election.

[Highwind]

True. I've seen remember the Hillary voters.

[QUO-VADIS]

Is it a republican club? Bet there are a heck of a bunch of white dems swiming there

[haval2]

These kids are wiser and more innocent than the adults. They know what they heard and sadly what they were meant to feel. They should not go back to the cover our a$$ invitation. They should never be where they are not wanted, they are too good for that. I am sickened by racism and as bad as it is, it is worse when innocent, sweet children are involved. Look at those kids, all they wanted was to go swimming on a hot day in the summer. How dare anyone make them feel bad. I am ashamed. Do Unto Others...

[Blurp]

All I can say is... Sharpton's gonna be on this like white on rice.

[jpaultel]

As he should. You should too. Do you think it is right for those children to have been treated so?

[Blurp]

Oh fer Chrissakes take a joke as a joke.

[chronic]

Are you thick?

[chronic]

LOL

[James Redmond]

There's simply three core questions:

1. WhatTF were these people thinking

2. WhyTF did those kids in the pool have a mutual racist reaction

3. When are they going to apologize to ALL the kids involved on both sides of this singular issue, equally victimized by the overt racism, 'cuz that sure as f*ck wasn't by any stretch an apology

[JackRusselTerrier]

Don't go back unless the staff, the parents, and the kids who demonstrated themselves to be racist, are no longer working at or members of the club.

If the club is serious about making amends, they will offer to do this without you asking. If the offer never comes - I hope people demonstrate in front of this club until it shuts down.

[NPA]

"it will seek a meeting with the kids' camps to work out an agreement for them to return." What could be the agreement, that the black kids can only swim certain hours and never with the whites? If a white dives into the pool are blacks immediately suppose to vacate the area? America still has a long way to go.

[dct1999]

What? You mean we're not living in the post-racial age of Obama?

[robXdion]

I almost forgot.. . . there's a corollary to all of this. At the same time this was going on, some black teens in OH rushed a white family with chants of "this is a black world!!". This is what happens when black kids grow up resentful because they're dealt with like outcasts. And that's precisely what some of these people were pushing with the idea that the kids should return to the pool out of spite or as some type of protest. The other pool that was offered to them was the correct way to handle this so they can see not all whites are like that.

[totalliberal]

I guess not? Anything else?

[Disuberence]

I think it would be better for them to go back, really. Their parents may be racists, but the kids are still young and whimsical. It would be better to have them mingle with each other, no? If all else fails they can be like me, come out of the closet with your black boyfriend. Talk about spinning heads!

[apoyo]

They should not return.

Those people cannot undo what they did.

[ladycubsfan]

I agree. The damage has been done and can't be undone, for these children. However, future groups of racially diverse swimmers should keep testing them to ensure this doesn't happen again. The club should put up or shut up.

[Nishaboston]

I don't think the children should go back to such a disgusting place. If the swimming pool really acted this way because there was too many children then why couldn't they tell the day care that instead of returning their check back!

[Ajegunle]

DON'T GO BACK PLEASE!

Let them be known as the "Racially biased Swim Club".

They'll be out of buisness in a year.

[Solja]

I doubt that. It was an all-white swim club before and will remain one after. Plus, it's surrounded by two mostly white neighborhoods. Nothing changes if they don't go back, at least for a day.

[1PALady]

Well, if that is the case, I hope they get sued and put out of business.

These kids should not have been made to feel that way, and you cannot put the genie back in the bottle.

The damage has already been done!

[eternalkerri]

This is when they politely say, "No thank you, we will find a more accommodating facility"

And leave the club to bluster to a bunch of people walking away and a shrinking clientele, "We aren't like that! Seriously, come back!"

[Obamanaut]

What? Invite them back so you can save your own A$$? Too late. You know where to go, you bunch of ingenuous jack$$$'s.

[madHenry]

You mean DISingenuous, I think.

[Obamanaut]

OOPS! So right...I'm tired, man.

[hulagirrrl]

Boy, how I wish to be a rich person, because if I had the money I would invite all of these kids to Hawaii where they can swim on some of the most beautiful beaches in the world.

[zigzag1]

Hope they go back and pee in the pool

[BlackWidowPilot]

Brilliant logic, citizen. Yes, by all means let those children go back and act precisely as the *bigots* expect them to...

With friends like these...

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[dct1999]

Well said.

[NoSillyName]

Even big ots pee in pools.

[groda63]

As a minority myself, I have no doubt that some rude members of the club made such comments and removed their children due to racism. It's very sad for the campers to hear such things and they should be upset. Some people are idiots. But I think it is completely unfair to label all members of this club as racists. I live here and I know that is not true. It's very easy to make broad generalizations about a group of people. I guarantee you that some members had no problem that the kids were black, but were simply annoyed that their peaceful club was suddenly inundated with 65 excited noisy children and it didn't matter if they were white, black or asian.

I would like to know all the facts before I make such judgments and start calling everybody racists. We don't really know what kind of conversation insued between the camp director and swim club director after that first visit. Did the camp director demand the money back and refuse to come back? Or was she given the money back and told not to come back. Those are the questions I want answered before I give anyone the "undefendable" label of "racist".

[AfroLatina21]

The camp director stated that a few days later their deposit was refunded and they were told not to return.

[AfroLatina21]

"but were simply annoyed that their peaceful club was suddenly inundated with 65 excited noisy children"

I don't know why you're making exuses for them. Even one of the members who was there that day stated that "the pool wasn't particularly crowded and the children from Creative Steps were "well behaved and respectful." http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090710/ap_on_re_us/us_swim_club_blacks

[Obamanaut]

I agree. It's very easy to throw everybody into the same pit. I'm just directing my comments to the people who made all the magic happen so sweetly. They deserve the bile. One bad apple still spoils the barrel.

[NoSillyName]

And for that amount of money, they should have had the pool all to themselves anyway.

[robXdion]

Well maybe you should go catch up on some research and cease posting this fairytale drivel and stop defending these people because you're afraid of whites feeling upset.

[Solja]

Why don't you watch one of the video's of this story. We are past the assumption stage in this. The owner stated to the press, "the kids changed the complexion .... the entire atmosphere changed..."

The word "complexion" cannot be construed as anything else than what it is, a problem with the color of their "complexion".

It is probably true that all members are not racists, but there was enough of them that were, apparently, that made the owner put them out and refund their fully paid for membership fee.

Whites kids were there swimming when they arrived, and some of their parents made them get out of the pool when the minority kids got in the pool. Then you have the kids saying that the white adults were telling others that they were afraid the minority kids were going to harm their kids.

It's really just a case of Racism 101.

[BlackWidowPilot]

Yup. This one is well and thoroughly *not* interstellar navigation...

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[groda63]

Due to budget issues, only 45 of 73 Philadelphia public pools are open this summer. It's likely that the campers only traveled to this club because their local public pool was closed. There is a big difference between free city public pools and this Swim club which has private paid membership. I used to live in the city and used public pools quite often. You don't go to them if you want peace and quiet and you won't have a lot of space to swim on a hot summer day, they are crowded as hell, whether they are in a white neighborhood or black neighborhood or in a racially mixed neighborhood. It can be madness. I was always thankful they had adult swim when all kids had to leave the pool..

I am not a member of this club but I live 10 minutes away. Members pay several hundred dollars a year to join this club. It's a quiet club and you don't have the volume of swimmers or the noise that you find in the city public pools. That is basically the point of this club. You are paying for a nice place to swim which is a much better experience than the public pools in Philly. And I am talking about crowds, noise, people splashing you, knocking into you, etc. During the week, this swim club is not a crowded place. My friend went last year and maybe 10 people were there.

[Olalaberry]

And your point being they were surprised at how many kids showed up? I think not. They were appalled that the kids were not white kids. Not to mention, white people always perceive a group of black people as a larger group than it really is. I am sure it appeared to be at least hundred screaming jumping blacks to them! Very disturbing!

[bowthai]

Hey, I agree - you pay more for better services. In that case, if the aim of the pool was to create a 'quiet' and 'peaceful' environment for swimmers, then they should never have accepted the camp's request in the first place. The talk of overcrowding and excessive noise just does not work for me because the pool should have known the number of students and planned accordingly. If it was not equipped to handle 60 kids plus other patrons, then they should have rejected the application in the first place, and would have been right in dong so. It seems there are two main possibilities - this pool is a poorly run business or it reacted to some racist comments by other patrons (hence the 'complexion' excuse). Either way, the pool looks to be the loser.