Swim club that kicked out minority kids wants them to come back

// added July 13, 2009 // 45 comments //
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AwesomeJosh
A private suburban swim club accused of racism after it canceled the memberships of dozens of minority children says it will seek a meeting with the kids' camps to work out an agreement for them to return.

Amy Goldman, a member of The Valley Club, said those able to attend a hastily called meeting Sunday afternoon voted unanimously in support of reinstating the memberships of the Creative Steps day camp and two other camps as long as safety issues, times and terms can be agreed upon.

The Creative Steps camp had arranged for 65 mostly black and Hispanic children to swim each Monday afternoon at the gated Huntingdon Valley club, which is on a leafy hillside in a village straddling two overwhelmingly white townships. But after the group arrived June 29, camp director Alethea Wright said, several children reported hearing racial comments and some swim club members pulled their children out of the pool.

The camp's $1,950 was refunded a few days later.

The president of the swim club's board of directors, John Duesler, has said the decision was made out of safety considerations, not racial concerns.

"We have near-unanimous approval from our membership, so at this point we'll be figuring out ... how to approach all the camps and see how we can move forward," Duesler told WPVI-TV at the club's entrance on Sunday.

The swim club has claimed it has a diverse, multiethnic membership, but Goldman, a member for two years, said she couldn't remember seeing a black member this year.

Goldman said members were told that the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, which has opened an investigation, is to make a fact-finding visit to the club July 30. U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., said Friday he had asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate "to determine what action, if any, is warranted by the Civil Rights Division."

Others to criticize the club include the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the United States' highest-profile black swimmer, Olympic gold medalist Cullen Jones, who said Thursday that "hearing about what's happened to these 65 kids is both disturbing and appalling."

Chuck Wielgus, executive director of USA Swimming, the governing body for the U.S. swim team, said he was stunned by the accusations against the club.

Wright, the camp director, didn't immediately return a telephone call seeking comment Sunday evening. She said earlier that other institutions had offered to host her group at their pools for the summer.

Camp parent Silvia Carvalho said she hadn't heard about the club's action but didn't believe her 9-year-old daughter, Araceli, would be willing to return.

"She has already said so," Carvalho said Sunday night. "She doesn't want people to look at her the same way."
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45 comments // Swim club that kicked out minority kids wants them to come back

  • kingfugazi
    • 0
      kingfugazi  
    • I would think it important for people to stay, or join, and stand within the walls of this place for equality. It's like reaching out a helping hand to someone drowning. We all wanna live happy, we got to do it together so we can't just turn our backs on people when we see something f*cked up. Being in the lives of racists, greedy business people, violent people, etc. as a tried and true person dedicated to the good of all is way better than leaving them to bask in the darkness of their ignorances and influences.

    • 7 months ago
  • pnuttbuttajelli
  • nanac
    • 0
      nanac  
    • I am willing to bet that the parents involved in this matter, and the people in charge of this swimming club are so called Christians.. How can these people look in the mirror? This is hate at it's worse..........They are the so called role models for their chldren, and behavior is learned. I wouldn't want my children to belong to this club, for this very reason.

    • 7 months ago
  • bailey78
  • MoonLoon
  • Mob_Barley
  • div
  • lifestudentno83
  • lifestudentno83
    • 0
      lifestudentno83  
    • Racism lives in America because people remain ignorant of equality.

      Ignorance lives in America because people fear what they do not wish to understand.

      Understanding comes from education. Americans lack educations in emapthy.

    • 7 months ago
  • outtheinside
    • 0
      outtheinside  
    • i'd still like to see them sued. it's blatant discrimination in the face of 65 children. it would be the proper lesson for all of the kids to learn that obeyed their parents' call to get out of the pool - there are consequences for judging based on invariable human qualities. close the club financially and make a new one open with a new attitude.

      and for those that say they have no basis for a lawsuit:
      1) a contract was signed for the summer
      2) the number of children was known - which is why other camps have been turned away
      3) after one day of discriminatory actions and comments and no disorderly conduct, the club returned the money with no reason
      4) civil rights act 1964
      5) the club advertises open admission - it is not a selective private club as some have asserted
      6) comment that having the children would "change the atmosphere"

    • 7 months ago
  • Mob_Barley
  • MoonLoon
  • kjyn69
    • 0
      kjyn69  
    • Wow, wondering if this is going to get some CNN coverage. PPL don't believe that racism still exists, but it does and we shouldn't pretend like it was a misunderstanding b/c that's how racism becomes acceptable.

    • 7 months ago
  • ras_menelik
  • MoonLoon
    • 0
      MoonLoon  
    • My feelings go out for the children. The person in charge that needs to get an idiot award.
      If too many children showed up they could have had them enter in shifts, so as not to overwhelm the lifeguards.

      Racism is alive and well in the U.S.: I can remember 10 years ago when my daughter's Black Track coach asked her to stand behind a sign until they called up the runners. When my daughter asked why, the coach laughed and said " I don't want the other coaches to know that I have white girl running the 400 meters". She meant it as a compliment and joke, but what would have been the response, if a White Coach said something similar to a black child?

      So I repeat, racism is alive and well in America. I suggest looking closely in the mirror before condemning any one race as being solely responsible. Until all race based organizations and laws are purged of racial connations we will continue to have this problem. I include Country Clubs, KKK, NAACP, United Negro College Fund, Miss Black America, Rainbow Coalition, as all contributing to the problem, by driving a wedge between between the races for self serving purposes.

    • 7 months ago
  • dabne
    • 0
      dabne  
    • It sounds like the Creative Steps day camp is discriminating against white kids. 65 mostly black and Hispanic kids? Where is the love for the white kids?

    • 7 months ago
  • lifestudentno83
  • div
  • omgitsjohnnyc
    • 0
      omgitsjohnnyc  
    • You mean to report that a bunch of wealthy white people got together and are systematically excluding anyone who does not look like them? Say it ani't so.

    • 7 months ago
  • Panzer_Tanzler
  • onemalefla
  • EmperorThan
    • 0
      EmperorThan  
    • "We would just like to apologize to all the little nigger children out there that...."

      *audience begins throwing things*

      "What the hell is wrong with YOU PEOPLE?!?!?! We were apologizing! Jeeez!!!"

    • 7 months ago
  • Valence
  • bombastinator
    • 0
      bombastinator  
    • The claims of racism are seeming a bit less strong with this overwhelmingly positive vote. I understand one knows it when one sees it though.

      the guy claims it wasn't the color of the kids but the number of them. We know there were 65 kids which is kind of a lot of small children.

      How big is the pool and the pool area? Are there any photos around?

      It might be legally rated for 65 or more people but that doesn't mean the number is necessarily reasonable when the people are all rambunctious small children.
      It might have been the right thing to do if it was a danger issue. Things would be even worse for the club if a kid drowned.

      If this was the case, if I was the club owner I would do some before and after video. First with an average number of people in who are usually in the pool at a given time to show what a member might be used to, then put 65 kids in the pool again along with the required number of care givers and enough life guards standing by to make sure it was safe.

    • 7 months ago
  • SDLN
    • 0
      SDLN  
    • "The Creative Steps camp had arranged for 65 mostly black and Hispanic children to swim each Monday afternoon..."

      Damn the offensive jokes shooting through my head!

    • 7 months ago
  • bailey78
  • Sumbodyswatchin
    • 0
      Sumbodyswatchin  
    • Of course they want the kids back, they don't want to look like the bigoted pigs they really are. Sorry fellas, you can let the kids back in the pool, but the cats out of the bag.

    • 7 months ago
  • Mob_Barley
  • ras_menelik
  • Valence
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  
    • Valence:

      They don't actually, it's called the civil rights act of 1964.

      And even if it wasn't, it would be ok if it were private discrimination? =\

      I hope you haven't had your brain rotted by libertarianism.

    • 7 months ago
  • Valence
  • outtheinside
  • Valence
    • 0
      Valence  
    • Valence:

      I'm not justifying their actions ut they refunded the money and that open admissions think can easily be disregarded as a mistake.

      Civil rights act do not give you the right to be on private property :/ go try it and report about it :/

    • 7 months ago
  • ras_menelik
    • 0
      ras_menelik  
    • Image...
    • Wait!What?????

      I just noticed the head line on this one.

      .............While the cats away the mice will..........wtf.........Mr President look what they are trying to hide now that you are back.

      I'm Telling!!!!!!!!!!!

    • 7 months ago
  • Tankguy
    • 0
      Tankguy  
    • I cant be too sure if this was outright racism on the swim club's part but the excuse that they are giving is a lame cop-out and heres why:

      This is a pool that despite being privately owned and operated, must surely expect to have lots of patrons in the summer. With that in mind wouldn't it seem to make sense to already have a plan or schedule in place that could accomodate large groups? The reports of racial comments directed at the kids cant be verified but here is one thing that sticks out; if this was about safety due to a higher number of swimmers why didn't the pool director simply contact the camp director and request that they only allow so many of their kids to enter the pool at a given time? Why did the director go straight to revoking their memberships instead of trying to cooperate with the camp?
      I remember during college I was a camp counselor and we had around 60-70 kids that we took swimming daily for 1.5 hours. We never had issues with safety because we would only bring 15 of our kids at a time yet all 60 of our campers had an oppertunity to swim. Everyday we shared a local high school competition size pool with the swim team and we never had a problem because of a little think called cooperation. All that the director had to so was cooperate with the camp and they could have avoided all this negative attention.

    • 7 months ago
  • bombastinator
    • 0
      bombastinator  
    • Tankguy:

      >"wouldn't it seem to make sense to already have a plan or schedule in place that could accomodate large groups?"<

      Yes but it doesn't mean they actually ever implimented it before. I'm trying to remember the original video and I think the guy mentioned that this was the frst time the club had tried this.

      I could very well see someone looking up the number for whatever the fire department or whomever told them was the legal maximum for the area. Those numbers are not always very realistic

    • 7 months ago
  • jh64487
  • Mob_Barley
  • HatFella
    • 0
      HatFella  
    • Yeah right, "it's hard to know who believe". Why do posters like you always give RACISTS like this the benefit of the doubt? They did not want the the kids at their place of business once they realized they under estimated their "wonderful clientele". When you are looking at the same white faces all the time, you become deluded into thinking this is the way it is and should be. Bullshit Racists, plain and simple.

    • 7 months ago
  • gem7007
    • 0
      gem7007  
    • It's hard to know who to believe in situations like this, but the club should not have kicked out the kids after agreeing to letting them swim, racial comments or no.

    • 7 months ago
  • ras_menelik
  • ras_menelik
  • Mob_Barley
  • ras_menelik

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