[Funny aside. I read about the suit earlier and didn't remember where I'd seen it. I wanted to link to it, so I did a quick google search to find the article. You need more than "swim" and "suit" to narrow this one down. Gads I can be such a dork sometimes.]Racial discrimination?
Really?
First, and most importantly, this particular daycamp wasn't the only one affected; the swim club had changed its mind about letting several daycamps utilize their private facilities this summer. The other daycamps affected aren't predominately minority. How then can racisim be claimed as a motivating factor?
I can so easily envision a possible (likely?) scenario:
Many public pools in Philadelphia have closed because of the horrid economy. Mr. Private Swim Club director sees an opportunity to make some extra cash by opening his pool up to nearby summer child cares and camps. He probably means well but didn't spend enough time thinking through the consequences of this decision. Hoards of children descend upon the pool, surprising and angering dues-paying members who expected their investment to yield a quiet, controlled pool environment. [The daycamp in question brought 65 children to the pool. SIXTY FIVE children in a pool is a LOT.] Paying members complain to Swim Club director, who realizes he'd not thought this through very well, so he returns the money for all of the local day cares and camps who had decided to participate and informs them it's not going to work after all. Only one of those facilities is predominately minority, and it decides to throw the word "racism" into the scenario. At that point, all hell breaks loose.
One of the daycamp children claims to have heard a club member ask why so many "black kids" were at the pool that day. That is probably true. Private club member mom probably said something stupid. But to extrapolate that to racism on the part of the swim club is an awfully quick and sloppy determination. Another daycamper reported that they heard an adult member worry that her child was going to be "hurt" by the kids. (You can interpret this to mean she was worried that black children would hurt her child, or you can interpret this to mean she was worried that her child would be hurt in an overcrowded pool. Your choice.) Further, in response to the incident, the director replied "There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion...and the atmosphere of the club". That statement has been held up as proof of his racist attitude. His use of the word "complexion" is, apparently, the ringer. Complexion can mean "the hue and appearance of the skin" but can also mean "overall aspect or character." Taken in context, it seems obvious to me that he was using the word with the latter definition. Too many children made the pool uncomfortable and unsafe. Do people really think that by "complexion" he meant color? Really? Or are they jumping all over that to continue to fuel their rage? Honestly, when I read his statement, it never occured to me that his use of the word mean skin color. Good grief.
I know I know I know I KNOW that racism is a real problem in the U.S. I know real cases of it exist and they make my stomach turn and should never be ignored. But this kind of reaction - this immediate bandwagon response of calling out RACISM only exaserbates our problems. The most common response I hear when people read about this incident is surprise. Opinion writers opine their "SURPRISE" that such blatent racism still exists today. If that is true - if these reporters and opinion writers are so surprised that this kind of racism would happen - then why does the default assumption immediately fall on the side of racism?
I think this is ridiculous. In addition to the lawsuit, Arlen Spector has weighed in and requested an investigation by the Federal Department of Justice. The state Human Relations Commission is investigating at the request of the NAACP. What a waste of resources.
The director of the daycamp, Alethea Wright, has been quite vocal about the incident. She has stated that she is looking for a psychologist to talk to the children about the incident. Perhaps she means well. Perhaps she really feels like there is racism at play. I think her reaction to this incident has done more harm to the kids in her care than anything else. She is teaching them to live life as victims and teaching them that discrimination is to be expected. She is teaching them that the "others" in the US are not to be trusted and to suspect the motives behind every action. She is teaching them that they are different.
And with that, I guess my liberal-lefty membership card will soon be revoked.
5 comments:
These stories make me quite sad. I'm not sure exactly what it is that causes them to push our buttons. Perhaps we look for evidence that the "race card" is being played in an obvious way so that we can point it out. I'm guessing that your African-American friends will have a different take on this story.
I'm struggling to understand what it must be like to live when you are always "black" first with any other attributes considered second. I hope that someday race will no longer be such a strong dividing line in our society. I don't know what the answer is, but I'm willing to listen, hope and act.
I think it is our moral DUTY to call out racism when we see it. Reactions of apathy and inaction are just as horrid to me as the act of racism itself. I hope I never stand by and dismiss discrimination when I see it.
However, I think this particular case is a sad example of crying wolf. I think the calls of racism here are unjustified, and that kind of reaction does great harm to our progress in the area of race relations. When this kind of silliness gets this much newsplay, we move back many steps. It's harmful to to the "coming together" and it's harmful to the blacks who see it as evidence that they are continuously victimized. It's very disheartening to me too.
I would hope that my black friends feel the same exact way about this incident as I do. I don't think my personal reaction is based on my race, but I hope it is based on logic.
I do think we're making progress on the race front. One time, when my daughter was in preschool, she was telling me about her new teacher. I was trying to get her to describe her to me, in order to figure out who it was. We went through hair color, what kind of clothes she wore, her accent, and then she mentioned that her skin was brown. I believe that new generations aren't as prone to recognize skin color as such a divider as older generations are/were.
What a wonderful story. You've got great kids!
I think that these weird stories in the news about questionable lawsuits just distract us from the really important work of healing the wounds.
I too hope that the situation is changing. Earlier this year I had a discussion with YRUU about it and was sad to hear a lot of "them" and "us" in the dialog. "They" are always playing the black card. "They" get preferential treatment. "They" stay to themselves.
A little later I had a conversation with an African-American friend. We had just spent a weekend talking about the late 60s UU missteps in relation to the black empowerment movement. He said it was one of the first times that he felt safe enough to talk openly with whites about how racism affects his life. I was surprised how much his daily experience differed from mine. So, I'm going to keep listening and see what I can do to help.
"I too hope that the situation is changing. Earlier this year I had a discussion with YRUU about it and was sad to hear a lot of "them" and "us" in the dialog."
That's disheartening! Which David are you? Are you the David I know from UU??
"He said it was one of the first times that he felt safe enough to talk openly with whites about how racism affects his life."
That's disheartening too. I suppose it's a lot easier for me to claim I see progress from where I stand. I don't have to live it.
I had the same reaction, actually. Thought I was the only one, but I'm glad to hear I'm not.
I agree that the landscape is changing for the younger generations. Little C and his preschool classmates are completely and totally oblivious to race. Maybe part of that is the fact that they're only 4-5 years old, but I remember being acutely aware of racial differences at that age in a similarly diverse city.
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