"Nope, get outta da pool, kids!"
You’ve got to be kidding me! Check out this article that my Twitter pal @rbender posted:
More than 60 campers from Northeast Philadelphia were turned away from a private swim club and left to wonder if their race was the reason.
“I heard this lady, she was like, ‘Uh, what are all these black kids doing here?’ She’s like, ‘I’m scared they might do something to my child,’” said camper Dymire Baylor.
The Creative Steps Day Camp paid more than $1900 to The Valley Swim Club. The Valley Swim Club is a private club that advertises open membership. But the campers’ first visit to the pool suggested otherwise.
“When the minority children got in the pool all of the Caucasian children immediately exited the pool,” Horace Gibson, parent of a day camp child, wrote in an email. “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.”
*Splutters. It’s bad enough that many of Philly’s public pools have closed down. Now they’re keeping urban kids (whose parents have paid for the privilege of using this pool) out of suburban pools as well? Ridiculous.
And the response from the club? Mind-boggling.
“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.
Hmm, guess the prez has to stay out of that pool.
Check out the statement on the pool’s website:
“we are sure that you’ll enjoy the fantastic property and welcoming community of the club…”
Oh, okay. So this welcoming community’s way of welcoming people is to make little kids cry? Classy. Very classy.
And check out the ‘Membership‘ page.
“We combine a casual, friendly atmosphere with an emphasis on family.”
They should perhaps stress that this doesn’t necessarily include an emphasis on black families.
Yup, double-checked the ‘Rules of operation.’ Nothing in there about running out of the pool screaming if a colored kid touches water.
Okay, you guys know what to do. Give ‘em hell.
Here’s their contact information.
I read about that.
Words fail me.
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CNN is here now, covering the story. Can’t wait for the shit storm of media coverage that will ensue.*
*Please note hint of sarcasm. Stories like these put Philadelphians in a position to defend their city to anyone who doesn’t live here–as if this is an isolated incident. Perhaps the news story should be that racism is rampant and this happens everywhere, all the time.
Here’s a quote from the “doc” himself: “Peace-making takes many shapes and forms, whether political action or even artistic and literary expression”, said John G. Duesler Jr., board chairman of Peace Action-Philadelphia, the event’s sponsor. It was billed as an ethnic peace festival.
hmm…I wonder what he meant by”peace-making taking many shapes and forms” …the right complexion kids getting out of the water artistiscally?
here’s his facebook link:
http://www.facebook.com/john.dueslerjr
He’s blocked his website, probably his phone number… surprising to see that his facebook remains open to view his 296 “friends”….as if he’s trying to say “see look, look who’s there”.
What he and anyone else did to these group of KIDS fits in my book the same as a child molester.