More than 60 campers from Northeast Philadelphia were turned away from a private swim club and left to wonder if their race was the reason.
“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, 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.
The explanation they got was either dishearteningly honest or poorly worded.
“There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club,” 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. (Source)
You want to be a racist son of a bitch to me…cool. You want to tell me that you don’t allow us “darkies” into your pool, “dirting” up your pristine water…fine. I can take that, I’m an adult. I’ve reached the point where racist fucktards don’t really bother me personally anymore. I see them for the ignorant ass twits they are. But leave the kids out of it. There’s no reason for the younger generation to be raised on the same hate and ignorance that you have.
There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club,” John Duesler, President of The Valley Swim Club said in a statement.
I’m actually amazed that they were this bold. Usually racist ass individuals like this are too cowardly to be this damn bold with their racism. But to actually send a statement that says you thought the children would change the “complexion” of the club? Being black isn’t contagious. Your kids wouldn’t contract reverse vitiligo and suddenly get darker after sharing a pool with some black kids. WTF. Are we living in 2009 or 1909?
And to those that say the inevitable: “It’s a private club, they can do what they want.” That is true. They are private so they can do whatever the hell they want. But that also means that I can tell everyone that listens that they are racist as fuck.
Are you f*cking kidding me? That is extremely outrageous. And any defense of them on the basis of their being private is irrelevant. The point is not that they aren’t allowed to do what they did. It is that they should not have done so. And to tell children this! I am steaming angry…
While I am as steamed as many others…I can’t say that I’m surprised. Just goes to show that while we live in a “post-racial” society…white privilege still runs the establishment. Its sad that children are involved. The children involved might have had their first object lesson in internalized, institutional racism, and anglo-normativity…and they barely have the capacity to understand the full depth of what happened to them…
Wow…sadly, I cannot claim surprise on this one. And if the club is private, and didn’t want to deal with the “darkies” in the pool, they should not have taken a $1900 check from an inner city camp.
Stupid people!
Oh…and this is gonna be a real unpopular statement, but here goes. We have seen ignorance like the BET awards and ignorant artists like Lil Wayne, Soulija Boy and others constantly on television promoting all things “Black”, so at what point do we sit back and say, “enough is enough?!” I mean, I don’t know much about Iraqi people, Pakistani people, etc except from what I see on tv. Being an intelligent person I can assume a bit of their depiction is blown out of proportion. But, some stereotypes will remain until I actually meet someone of the race that proves me wrong. All that to say…that mess on tv, that mess of Lil Wayne, that mess of ignorant rap/r&B lyrics, that mess of video hoes…the mess we have called entertainment that showcases Black folks in the most ignorant of light DOES matter. Think about it. You may not agree or you may not think I should have said it, but really for all those equally ignorant Black folks out there that think the stuff I just mentioned is just entertainment, it’s more than that when we’re talking about depicting a race of people with an already tarnished (albeit, unfairly and undeserving to begin with) image. How are others, people not immersed in the Black culture of familiar with many Black people, SUPPOSED to view us when we have mess like this as the “norm” for all things Black?
Here’s the club’s email. LETS GIVE THEM AN EARFUL PEOPLE!!!
info@thevalleyclub.com
Their pool, their rules. To bad so sad
Mo … for real?! I quote you, “We have seen ignorance like the BET awards and ignorant artists like Lil Wayne, Soulija Boy and others constantly on television promoting all things “Black”, so at what point do we sit back and say, “enough is enough?!” Do you think Lil’ Wayne, Soulija Boy and others have anything to do with white racist pricks? If you do, sad for you!
To the person who wrote “Their pool, their rules,” why did they take the check in the first place? They knew an inner city camp wasn’t a bunch of white children.
Yeah, I’m for real. And I never said that Lil Wayne and others were the cause of racism. I did say that they contribute to how others not familiar with Black people perceive us. And, I do hold to that. If you don’t even stop to consider how we look to others because of how we’re portrayed, whether by choice or by force, then you don’t see the big picture at all.
I’m not convinced with their reasons. They were so unreasonable.