(NAME-MCE) Ronnie Polaneczky: A SPLASH OF COLD WATER

[Bill Howe]

Ronnie Polaneczky: A SPLASH OF COLD WATER
<http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/ronnie_polaneczky/>

By Ronnie Polaneczky
Philadelphia Daily News

Daily News Columnist

WHEN YOU call The Valley Club, in Huntingdon Valley, a recorded message by a
chipper-voiced man says, "Things are really starting to heat up here in
July!"

Things are heating up, all right, but probably not in the way that the
club's board would prefer. That's because families of minority children
enrolled in Creative Steps Day Camp, located inside Carnell Elementary
School, in Oxford Circle, are alleging that racism is the reason their kids
have been kicked out of the overwhelmingly white club.

The accusations are ugly.

In early June, Alethea Wright, founder and director of 13-year-old Creative
Steps, registered her 65 campers - online - to use the pool on Monday
afternoons from 3:30 to 5. The special arrangement, a first for the club,
was approved by its board and was to run from June 29th through Aug. 10th.

The Valley Club charged her $1,950 for the weekly privileges, which Wright
paid in full, in advance, from parents' fees. And, on June 29, she arrived
at Valley Club with 65 campers for their first swim of the season. She says
that the children were excited to use the low-key pool; the leafy, 10-acre
grounds on Tomlinson Road provide a lovely setting for aquatic fun.

Trouble began immediately, says Wright, when she heard several white members
make disparaging racial remarks about the campers, who are black and
Hispanic. Wright says that Valley Club president John Duesler, who was on
the premises, seemed surprised and embarrassed by the behavior but assured
her that all would work out.

Two days later, she says, he called to say that members had overruled the
board's decision to allow her large group to use the pool. He seemed
sincerely sorry, she says, and said that campers' fees would be returned.

"I told him, 'You've got a bigger problem than that. Some of my campers
heard what those people said, and they have told their parents. The parents
are offended and outraged.' "

Who wouldn't be?

According to 14-year-old camper Dymir Baylor, with whom I spoke yesterday,
some of the comments were heartless.

"I heard a white lady say, 'What are all these black kids doing here? They
might do something to my child,' " recalled Dymir, who says he lives in a
neighborhood so diverse, he'd never heard anyone speak like that before. "It
was rude and ignorant."

His mom, Sharrae Thompson, was appalled that an adult would behave so
terribly.

"I was just shocked," she said. "This is 2009. You can't believe people
would carry on like that."

Wright was adamant that Duesler make things right.

"I told him, 'The parents don't want their money back. They want a good
place for their children to swim, which is what they paid for. Please, let's
try to work this out.' "

Despite phone calls and more debate at Valley Club, however, its members
would not budge. So, the agreement was rescinded, and a refund check for
$1,950 was issued to Creative Steps.

"I feel bad for Mr. Duesler," says Wright. "I think he did everything he
could. He was very embarrassed and apologetic. But this is wrong."




Duesler didn't return calls I left for him at home and at the club. Nor
would a representative comment when I visited the club yesterday. I was also
told I couldn't speak with the few members who lounged by the pool with
their kids.

So, all I have to go on is what Duesler, off-camera, told Fox 29's Claudia
Gomez, who broke this story on Tuesday.

Duesler, according to Gomez, said that the club "underestimated the impact"
the campers would have on the club, that they "fundamentally changed the
atmosphere." And he stressed that race "had nothing to do with the decision"
to break the club's agreement with Creative Steps.

Yesterday, NBC 10 reported that the club had released a statement from
Duesler saying that "there was concern that a lot of kids would change the
complexion" and "the atmosphere."

When camp parent Christine Templeton's son, Jabriel Brown, 11, heard the
word "complexion," he got teary-eyed.

"He's dark-skinned," she said. He wondered "if he had the wrong skin color
to go into the pool. He will never forget this."

Obviously, there might be less here than meets the eye. Having seen The
Valley Club, I can say that its pool is a good size, but not huge. Perhaps
65 children entering the pool, en masse, does indeed overwhelm its quiet
feel.

So, maybe race, for some members, has nothing to do with why Creative Steps
was kicked out.

Maybe they're just greedy.

Maybe they're just too greedy to give up 90 minutes per week - just 90 lousy
minutes - to make 65 children happy for the summer.

Maybe they're too greedy to say, "This camp thing isn't working the way we'd
hoped. But let's ride it out, just for this year."

Y'know, for the kids.

Thankfully, reports Wright, administrators at Girard College heard of her
campers' plight and yesterday invited her to check out their nice, indoor
pool. They will meet this morning to see if something can be arranged to
save those Monday swims.

"I'm relieved," she says. "I'd like to put this behind us." *

E-mail polaner at phillynews.com or call 215-854-2217. For recent columns:

http://go.philly.com/polaneczky. Read Ronnie's blog at
http://go.philly.com/ronnieblog.





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