(NAME-MCE) Pool Boots Kids Who Might "Change the Complexion"

[BILAH89850 at aol.com]

This Swim club is near my community about 15 minutes  away.It has a long 
history of racial problems.The swim club situation is only  the latest.its so 
sad that today's children had to face racial prejudice.  Moreover,no 
politician spoke out about the situation either.
Miles A. Edwards Ed.D
 
In a message dated 7/8/2009 6:47:11 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
bill at billhowe.org writes:



More than 60 campers from  Northeast
Philadelphia<http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/topics?topic=Northeast+Philadelph
ia>were
turned  away from a private swim club and left to wonder if their race
was the  reason.

Pool Boots Kids Who Might "Change the  Complexion"
<javascript:void(0);>
Kids at Creative Steps  Day Camp were thrilled to go swimming once a week
at the Valley Swim Club.  But after only one trip to the private club, they
were...

"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<http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/topics?topic=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."

The next day the club  told the camp director that the camp's membership was
being suspended and  their money would be refunded.

"I said, 'The parents don't want the  refund. They want a place for their
children to swim,'" camp director Aetha  Wright said.

Campers remain unsure why they're no longer  welcome.

"They just kicked us out. And we were about to go. Had our  swim things and
everything," said camper  Simer
Burwell<http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/topics?topic=Simer+Burwell>
.

The  explanation they got was either dishearteningly honest or poorly  
worded.

"There was concern that a lot of kids would change the  complexion &hellip
and the atmosphere of the club,"  John
Duesler<http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/topics?topic=John+Duesler>,
President  of The Valley Swim Club said in a statement.

While the parents await an  apology, the camp is scrambling to find a new
place for the kids to beat  the summer heat.


*Find this article  at:*
http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/us_world/Pool-Boots-Kids-Who-Might-Change
-the-Complexion.html




Bill  Howe
Asian Pacific American Coalition of CT http://apaact.com/
Personal  Website http://www.billhowe.org
Multicultural Dimensions  http://www.multiculturaldimensions.org
Travel Blog  http://billhowe.org/BillBlog/
Multicultural Education Blog  http://billhowe.org/MCE/
> Organizing a July 2010 Tour to China &  Hong Kong
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