Note: As you read this article, please don’t think I’ve gone “soft” when I write “seems to” or “appears to”. I don’t the full facts of the situation, nor do I know the racial statistics of either the club or the camp. I only know what has been reported, and we all know that the media is not always accurate, and there is always a tendency toward bias, one way or another.

There was a recent story in the news that’s got a lot of people “a-twitter”. It involves a situation between black children and a private swim club, which I assume to be primarily white. I have seen posts about this on both twitter and Facebook. I was a little taken aback about the comments that were made, some very hate-filled and viscious. I’m not the type of person who takes everything I see at face value, so I decided to do a little research on my own before.

The basic situation as I understand it is this: a summer camp that seems to be mostly or all black children paid for a membership at a private swim club which seems to be mostly white. When the campers got there to swim apparently, the white members of the club made comments to the effect of “what are all these black kids doing here” etc. The club then revoked the summer camp’s membership and refunded their money saying. The club’s spokespeople were also quoted as saying that these children changed the “complexion and atmosphere” of the club. I do readily admit that “complexion” wasn’t the best choice of words!!

On the surface, this seems like a terrible story, a story of racism in 2009. Since I don’t know specifics and try to see the best in situations, there might be another side to this situation that of which we’re not aware. So, take a deep breath, sit back and let’s walk through this together.

Here’s the possibilities of what happened:

1. The swim club is owned by a bunch of racist jerks who deliberately took the summer camp’s money and then revoked their membership.

2. The agreement between the club and the camp wasn’t clear – the club wasn’t expecting 60 children to show up at the club at one time. For those who have been around pools with children know, that’s a LOT of children in the pool. Imagine the screaming, yelling, pushing, running, shoving, splashing etc. that may have been going on. And this goes for children of ANY color.

3. The club’s members complained because 60 children disrupted the placidity of the club.

4. See #3 – and the children were black.

Put your self in this situation. You pay however much to join a private swim club instead of going to the public pool. There you are lounging, reading a novel or listening to your iPod when all of a sudden a huge group of children show up at the pool. And I mean huge. You didn’t know they were coming. So you’ve got your little ones in the pool while these other children are jumping in. Would you let your children stay in the pool? Shoot, I sure wouldn’t! I’d be afraid they’d be lost in the shuffle with SIXTY (60) children swimming there.

I’ve left playgrounds when teachers/camp counselors brought a group of 20 children there to play. I did not feel confident that I could keep track of my children with so many other children around. Didn’t matter what color they were, as a mom, I just felt safer removing my children from the situation completely.

So, I write all that to “say” – yeah, it could have been racism. But you know what I think? I think the swim club didn’t know what it was getting itself into. I think the swim club’s members were a little shocked to see all these folks converging on the pool at one time. I think sixty children at one time is a lot to bring to any pool, public or private. I mean, how many lifeguards were there? Was the pool big enough?? For a moment forget about race, and put yourself in their place.

No, I’m not getting soft. Believe me; I’ll call a spade a spade in a minute. (Remember when those folks called Venus and Serena “gorillas”. I saw red for days!!) And this situation just might be a case of racist white folks.

But I think this is a case of miscommunication on both sides and scarcity of resources. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Shine on!
N’Mama