The Creative Steps Day Camp paid $1900 to the Valley Swim Club in the Philadelphia suburb of Huntingdon Valley to use their facilities for 90 minutes per week. Huntingdon Valley is old (average age 46), white (94%), and Republican.When the children, with adult supervision, arrived the club authorities took one look at their dark skin and ordered them out of the pool and forbade their return. It seems, according to club president John Duesler, the kids threatened the "complexion" (his word) of the club. Too many black children, you see.
To do this to children is beyond evil. There is not a level of Hell deep enough to house Duesler and his minions. I join with the good people of Pennsylvania who believe that every day that the Valley Swim Club remains open is an affront to all that is decent in this nation. Close them down. Now.
Update: Via DailyKos - Protests of the Valley Swim Club are being organized. Girard College is stepping up and providing pool access to the children. The ice cream shop Gumdrops & Sprinkles is treating the kids to a free day of candy and ice cream making. There are good people on this Earth.
Second Update: In the comments, Anonymous just sort of naturally assumed that the children in question were "misbehaving" and "causing a commotion" and "disruptive." This is an old excuse for segregation, those people are just too uncivilized to be allowed around decent white folk. Sorry, not buying it. I'm sure the children were behaving as all children everywhere, of any skin tone, do when they come in contact with a swimming pool.
And, yes, I did use a photo from Selma, Alabama dated 1931 because the Valley Swim Club hearkens back to those benighted times.
20 comments:
It's right on CNN "two other day-care centers, neither of which included minority children, had previously been similarly disinvited". So what is the problem? Why is it a big deal all of a sudden when black kids get kicked out, just like the white kids?
There is absolutely no tolerance in this world today for racism or bigotry. An example should be set that this is an unacceptable behavior by closing the swim club down for a specified period of time.
It is beyond comprehension that innocent children are being singled out for their skin color. It really makes me wonder if I should be proud to be an American when my neighbors are such bigots!
Seriously... Racism is alive because people can't let it die. Can't people/kids be kicked out for causing a commotion that is outside the clubs atmosphere? 2 other clubs, not including minorities, have been asked to leave and not come back. Stop being so dramatic and let racism go! If the owner/president said that the black kids can't come back, then maybe you have something... but only a member made a comment, and not all people these days can let racism go. I can only imagine what will happen when the country continues to fail under our president... things are just going to get worse.
Grow up people. You don't obey the rules, you can't play. Drop it.
You are getting outraged but you don't even know the real story. I know a lifeguard there, who was there that day, so I know what actually happened. They were asked to leave because they misbehaved, not because they were black. The swim club is white because, as you the blogger said, Huntingdon Valley is 94% white, not because they don't allow blacks - it is mere demographics. You have no support, you have news stories manipulating quotes and stories because a race story sells better than a day camp story. All of the day camps that had made contracts with the Valley Swim Club were also asked not to return because if the swim club asked one to leave, they knew it was only fair to ask all of them to leave - which is NOT racist. What the news does not tell you is that the kids were not following the rules that the club has, and that the staff was not prepared to have that many kids. As far as the comments from members, such as the one asking what "all of these black kids are doing here"... if you lived in Huntingdon Valley, which is 94% white, and at your private club, all of a sudden there are 60 black kids there, wouldn't you have questions?
oh, and I believe the picture you think so appropriately depicts your blog is from 1931! accurate. you should be a news reporter.
don't we carry the right to refuse service to anyone regardless of the color of their skin?! if the pool doesn't want them there, they don't have to allow them in!
stereotypes exist for a reason; maybe the african-american culture should take a look it itself and 'rekonize'.
i certainly wouldn't want a class of ill-behaved black kids in my pool....
So to cover there tracks they "dis-invited" two other day care center. So far no one speaking for the club or the day care has raised or stated anything saying the kids misbehaved (regardless, summer at a pool and you should expect some kids running or splashing water, etc). Being 94% white does not excuse anyone for being a racist. These are kids...now another group of kids have to feel the sting of racism...People stop looking for excuses and start demanding solutions.
This is the 3rd time that a group of kids have been un-invited to the club. Just because these kids a black doesn't make it racist.
Also, if 64 white kids showed up at a pool in harlem I think they would hear adults asking "what's going on here?".
And yet another blog leaves out the mention of the two other (non-minority) groups that also had their privledges revoked because it doesn't support their feigned moral outrage. I guess IGNORANCE truely is bliss.
Exactly, He said two other day-care centers, neither of which included minority children, had previously been similarly disinvited. So can we put the race card to rest? Racism is a two way street. Can't really blame someone else for it, then in turn use it as an excuse when things don't go your way. Does that make me a racist? If it does, I blame the fact that I had an ancestor I never knew who suffered a potato famine back in the day. There, played the potato famine card 5 times today, wonder if I can get it up to 20 before the day is over.
There are a few things I don't understand:
Why does the club sign contracts with day care centers if they don't want large groups of kids in their pool?
Regardless of whether the disinvitation was racially motivated or not, it seems that there were racial comments being made. So, doesn't that point to some racism?
Why didn't Duesler explain to the day care center why their check was returned? Returning it without explanation seems to be opening up trouble.
What did Duesler mean when he said that the kids changed the "complexion" and "atmosphere" of the club? Is it as blatant as it seems or did he mean something else?
"...two other day-care centers, neither of which included minority children, had previously been similarly disinvited."
No racism here. It is quite straight forward that they don't tolerate mis-behaving children at this club. I'm glad they follow their rules and don't bend for skin color no matter what color it is.
"Live around true blacks?" What the heck does that mean? What makes someone a "true black?"
While the club may have "disinvited" 2 other day cares, the club management did make racist comments. The "race card" will go away when racism goes away. If you don't think racism exists, try raising bi-racial children in a mostly white, affluent community. I was shocked that some people can be so blatant!
Wow, the comments here are nuts. Many of you do not get your own racism do you? When the minorities like gays and blacks ect can move freely through society with full equal rights then they will no longer have the need to protect their own little ghettos.. like Harlem or the Castro in SF. But that’s okay it tends to be mostly generational so mortality will fix it soon;)
Just going by the reports this is in fact racist. They paid money and made it clear who they were (an African American paid the bill) and how many kids were coming and what times and what the contract was. It was when they showed up the term “ change the complexion of the pool” was used by management to explain why they were being kicked out. .Management did not say that they were acting dangerously to themselves, the property or to others.
If other groups (no proof yet and it has been weeks since this happened) of children in day care who were white were also kicked out maybe we have a management problem. Valley Swim Club seems to like to take the kids money then when they show up all sweaty and ready for the promised fun time they are sucker punched and kicked out of the pool!
Kids of any race or age misbehave at pools. Have you all no recollections of your own youth? And the usually most productive policy I ever saw work ( I worked with youth of all types in pools) was warn and suggest better behavior and if that didn’t work remove only the trouble maker… not the whole class.
Geez. I just found out the Angels game is sold out tomorrow night! I called in as well and they told me it was sold out, I demand a lawyer. I know I have an ancestor who once suffered a potato famine and I'm positive that's whats going on here. It must not have anything to do with the fact that it's sold out or other group of people who want to go can't get tickets as well. Black people need to get over it. You can only milk the slavery card for so long guys.
I don't think that just because we disagree and say this doesn't seem racially motivated doesn't make us automatically racist.
Ignoring the facts presented and automatically assuming that the even is racially motivated DOES however make you a race baiter.
Completely ignoring that this has happened into the past to other camps and automatically crying racism is just plain ignorant. Did it ever occur to anyone that past history of revoking privledges might indicate that the club doesn't feel that large groups of children in general (regardless of race) is a bad idea. OF COURSE NOT IT MUST BE RACISM!!
Thank you. Finally some level headed people. I just saw a black man walk to a crosswalk and the light switched back from green to red right when he got there. THE LIGHT MUST BE RACIST! Geez guys. Sometimes the race card gets really really old. No wonder people don't take it seriously, it's like the boy who cries wolf.
inner-city kids are typically mixed race and typically do resent typically white suburban people. just listen to their ghetto rhyms! its a cultural thang! Also, inner-city kids are typically defiant and rude.. inner-city parents need to do a better job of raising their kids to respect the rest of society. just look at all the tagging.
however, the statement of mixed complexion and atmosphere was resentful as well. if they were in a country club and acting like inner-city kids typically do, I would expect them to get kicked out as well. bravo for someone to hold the same standards to everyone regardless of race. just because someone may have mixed race it does not give them a free ticket to disrespect the established norms of society.
both parties get what they deserve but even minorities need to "face the music". there is no place for racism.
Whomever said this is dumb. (Anonymous said...
White kids misbehave too, but when they are kicked out of the pool no one considers it a racial issue. God forbid a black kid gets kicked out of a pool for reasons other than race.
1:42 PM)
First of all it wasnt just a 'couple' black kids who were kicked out. it was { 65 } of them !
Are u trying to say all 65 of them were "misbehaving" ??????
where did the picture from Selma come from? I have seen that somewhere and can't remember where
thanks
I found the picture at the Missouri Heritage Project.
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