The Color of Water: Troubling
Posted By The Editors | July 11th, 2009 | Category: Hot Topics | 4 comments
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By TaRessa Stovall
Isn’t this 2009?
Don’t we have a black president, commander-in-chief, leader of the free world, and all that?
Then why are we reading, watching and hearing about a situation better suited to a period piece film demonstrating the insane, irrational hatred of racism back in the Jim Crow era of legalized and government-sanctioned racial apartheid in America?
Why is today’s news making me feel as though I’m viewing that infuriating scene where Halle Berry as stage and screen siren Dorothy Dandridge dipped her toe into a segregated resort pool in 1950? The resort immediately drained the pool to purify it.
Are we time traveling? In a surreal case of déjà vu, a group of black and Latino children were recently kicked out of a pool because they “changed its complexion.”
On June 29—the same week in which people of all races, ages, nationalities and backgrounds were united in mourning the loss of barrier-breaking superstar Michael Jackson—a group of 65 African-American and Latino children from Northeast Philadelphia enrolled in The Creative Steps Day Camp were kicked out of a swimming pool at The Valley Swim Club outside of Philadelphia because, as club officials said, they “changed the complexion and atmosphere” of the institution.
Protests have been taking place since The Valley Swim Club outside of Philadelphia ousted African American and Latino summer day campers who had purchased a membership to use the pool, saying they would "change the complexion" of the facility.
Never mind that the day campers had been in that very pool weeks earlier, or that their day camp paid $1,900 to The Valley Swim Club, a private enterprise advertising “open memberships.” Their goal: to enjoy a summer swim. But this time, when they showed up to take a dip, something went horribly wrong.
“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,” Horace Gibson, parent of a day camp child, wrote in an email as reported in The [Houston, Texas] Examiner newspaper.
Valley Swim Club member Jan told The Washington Post that the visiting campers were nicely-behaved and well-supervised prior to being evicted “The children were speaking so nicely with one another. They were conversing back and forth in such a nice manner. … I don’t think it would be a big problem that there were a lot of people there,” Jan said.
Still, news reports describe white parents removing their children or calling to them to get out of the pool when the black kids showed up. The club was sharply criticized.
“Racial discrimination has no place in America today,” stated a news release from Senator Arlen Spector (D-Pa.), who asked The Valley Club President John Duesler to reinstate the Creative Steps camp’s membership and invite them back to the pool. “I am reaching out to all the parties involved to ascertain the facts.”
Amid plans to celebrate its centennial year with a huge national conference, The NAACP weighed in: “The NAACP deplores the recent incident of racial discrimination at the Valley Swim Club in Philadelphia…” stated President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous. “Is this the year 2009, or 1959? This egregious episode casts us back in time, to the long, shameful era of Jim Crow segregation … it is especially pernicious because it sends a terrible message to black and white children, a message that has the potential to deeply scar their burgeoning identities. … It is heartbreaking to witness such an offensive episode of exclusion at this juncture in our history.”
On July 9, 10 days after the incident, The Valley Club issued a statement:
“The Valley Club is deeply troubled by the recent allegations of racism which are completely untrue.
“We had originally agreed to invite the camps to use our facility, knowing full well that the children from the camps were from multi-ethnic backgrounds. Unfortunately, we quickly learned that we underestimated the capacity of our facilities and realized that we could not accommodate the number of children from these camps. All funds were returned to the camps and we will re-evaluate the issue at a later date to determine whether it can be feasible in the future.”
Our Valley Club deplores discrimination in any form, as is evidenced by our multi-ethnic and diverse membership. Whatever comments may or may not have been made by an individual member is an opinion not shared by The Valley Club Board.”
According to EURweb.com, “The club also claims it returned funds to more than one camp.”
Meanwhile, Philadelphia’s Girard College came to the rescue. The private boarding school for children from low-income and single-parent homes welcomed the Creative Steps campers into their pool. “We had to help,” Tamara Leclair, Director of Admissions for Girard, told NBCPhilaelphia.com. “Every child deserves an incredible summer camp experience.”
Protests have been taking place at The Valley Swim Club, with some club members reportedly joining in, according to Marc Stierat Large. The protests are slated to continue Saturday, July 11, at noon, 22 Tomlinson Road, Huntingdon Valley.
Students from the Creative Steps Day Camp after being kicked out of The Valley Swim Club outside of Philadelphia because of their complexions.
While good judgment and generous hearts may have remedied the immediate swimming situation for the Creative Steps campers, the issue of whether a black president equals an era of “post-racism” again shoots into the national consciousness to test our character, our integrity, our commitment and our vision for civil and human rights.
How do we calculate our evolution against the continuing resistance to view and treat people equally? What kind of teachable moments does this type of incident provide for students, their parents and camp leaders? What might President and Mrs. Obama be telling their daughters about this incident around the White House dinner table?
This doesn’t help the case of those who argue that we just need to “get over” our concerns for justice and equality—and there are black people who say that, too—that we’re making too much of an incident here, an injustice there. As long as there are people who believe that the “complexion” of water can be changed by children of different colors swimming together, and are willing to openly discriminate because of that belief, the last 50 years have not brought nearly enough progress or change.
To express your feelings to The Valley Swim Club:
22 Tomlinson Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006
215-947-0700 info@thevalleyclub.com
TaRessa Stovall is Managing Editor of TheDefendersOnline, and Web Content Manager for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.
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This article is Biased and ill informed. Get all the facts before you jump to conclusions and drop the race card. this story originated from one of the upset parents (understatement) of the children asked to leave. There were white children with the group asked to leave and the pool is small. It doesn’t even normally hold 65 people. But this daycare KNOWINGLY brought a huge group to the pool. Each daycare invited to the pool received the guidelines of the pool and in the booklet it asks to call ahead for large groups. They didn’t.
I am starting a campaign to close this swim club down! We have to make an example of these people so that the world will know that we will not tolerate racism! We must show the little boy that cried that we will protect him and all children at all cost.
Born and raised in Philadelphia of Hispanic decent, racism left such a horrific memory that I swore I’d leave Philadelphia forever when I grow up. As an adult I not only left Philly, I left the U.S. altogether and became an expatriate. For the first time in my life I no longer experienced the indignity of racism. I was finally respected for my talents intellect and humanity, not my color. My sister looked Anglo. As kids we went to Hallahan swim club in Philadelphia with our three Irish elementary school classmates, I was turned away because I didn’t have a “membership.” But neither did my sister, nor my Irish classmates. When I brought this to the club’s attention, I was ignored and the gate to the pool entrance was shut in my face. I cried my 9 year old eyes out as I watched the swimmers through the fence in the scorching summer sun. I will never forget that one of many racist incidents in Philadelphia. This Valley Swim Club incident brought it all back to me 55 years later along with the sad fact that some things in Philadelphia have never changed.
Oh Little Boy , You Were Strong. July , 2009. That morning, I was drinking coffee with My Mother , watching the news, When the Report came on. A Little Boy , Who Paid , with His Money with Other Little Children, Who Were All Excited & Happy About Going Swimming in the Hot Summer & Playing & Having Fun , But , instead – Big , Heavy , Deep , Tears Fell From The Beautiful Little Black , African American’s Boy’s Face , Tears that Should Not have falling ! Tears , that were so heavy , no Child , should have ! it felt like a knife cut inside me. I listened to The Beautiful Child , tell what Happened , in a Mature Brave Voice , My insides are ripped now & I am Angry . But , The Little Boy Had No Anger , He jus , said , I thought all of this was over with , in this day of age .