(NAME-MCE) Pool club denies turning away minority kids

[Bill Howe]

Pool club denies turning away minority kids 

Swim club denies any wrongdoing in statement on Web site

msnbc.com news services

updated 7:18 p.m. ET, Thurs., July 9, 2009

HUNTINGDON VALLEY, Pa. - In a statement posted on its Web site Thursday
afternoon, a swim club said accusations that it discriminated against a day
camp for minority children were untrue. 

The Valley Club doesn't have the capacity to deal with outside groups and
returned money to more than one day camp, the club said. 

Alethea Wright, director of Creative Steps, a summer camp for minority
children, said the organization paid for weekly swim time at the pool. But
during a trip there June 29 some of the children said they heard people
asking what "black kids" were doing at the club, Wright said. 

In its statement, the swim club called its membership diverse and said any
comments that may or may not have been made by members are not shared by its
board. 

Commission plans investigation
The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission said it will investigate the
allegations that the club kicked out black and Hispanic children. 

Commission Chairman Stephen A. Glassman said the NAACP requested the
investigation. 

Creative Steps, in northeast Philadelphia, had contracted for the 65
children at the day camp to go each Monday afternoon, Wright said. But
shortly after they arrived June 29, she said, some black and Hispanic
children reported hearing racial comments. 

"A couple of the children ran down saying, 'Miss Wright, Miss Wright,
they're up there saying, 'What are those black kids doing here?'" 

Wright said she went to talk to a group of members at the top of the hill
and heard one woman say she would see to it that the group, made of up of
children in kindergarten through seventh grade, did not return. 

"Some of the members began pulling their children out of the pool and were
standing around with their arms folded," Wright said. "Only three members
left their children in the pool with us." 
Several days later, the club refunded the camp's payment without
explanation, said Wright, who added that some parents are "weighing their
options" on legal action. 

Senator issues statement
Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., issued a statement calling the allegations
"extremely disturbing" and said he was looking into the matter. 

Club president John Duesler told Philadelphia television station WTXF that
several club members complained because the children "fundamentally changed
the atmosphere" at the pool, but that the complaints didn't involve race. 

The club's telephone message system was full and a message could not be left
there by The Associated Press; Duesler did not return calls to his home. 

A club member told a newspaper that she understood the problem was the size
of the group, not race. But Wright rejected that explanation, saying the
club covers 10 acres with a "nice-sized" pool and a separate pool for
younger children. The board, she said, knew that her group included 65
children, and none of them had misbehaved. 

"We were not welcome, once the members saw who we were," she said. 

Wright said the children were upset, and that she was looking for a
psychologist to speak to them next week. Some have asked her whether they
are "too dark" to swim in the pool, she said. 

"I'm not going to validate this behavior by adults," Wright said. "It's
unacceptable. This is preposterous, and I won't stand for it." 

Private school lends a hand
Girard College, a private Philadelphia boarding school for children who live
in low-income and single-parent homes, has offered to host the children for
the summer, and a meeting was scheduled later Thursday to work out the
details.  

"We had to help," admissions director Tamara Leclair told WCAU, a NBC
affiliate station. "Every child deserves an incredible summer camp
experience." 

The school already serves 500 campers but felt it could squeeze in 65 more,
especially since its pool is unused on the day the Creative Steps group had
planned to swim at Valley Swim Club. 

In another gesture of goodwill, the owners of Gumdrops & Sprinkles treated
the kids to a free day of candy and ice cream-making, WCAU reported. 

NBC affiliate WCAU and The Associated Press contributed to this story.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31833602/ns/us_news-race_and_ethnicity/

 

 

 

 

Bill Howe

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