I just saw a picture on Huffington Post about the way that budget cuts have forced the closure of public swimming pools across the country. The picture was of two darling African-American children who were enjoying the experience of being in a public pool. This is something they may not be able to have much longer. Across the country swimming pools for poor, African-American and other children are being seen as a luxury as cities fight to maintain their essential services. It’s hard to make a case that the city should sacrifice dollars needed for police and fire departments in order to enable young people to do something that might save their lives someday. Why can’t they go to the YMCA?
Well I have a friend who has worked hard to ensure that children have access to swimming pools. For many years she has brought foster children to the Jewish Community Center and enjoyed their laughter. I doubt that she cared anything about the reactions of the 95% white crowds looking at her and her African-American children. I’m certain that if I looked around I could similar examples of adults taking children swimming in these private pools.
Municipal pools are as democratic as the public library and the same people who hate one probably despise the other. Those who cry out so ferociously in the name of so-called limited government. Give us tanks but please nothing that a poor person could use to learn a skill or create a job.
There was a tragic incident in Milwaukee a few years ago in which a couple of African-American children were swept up in the water at a lagoon and taken to their deaths. There were efforts to teach black children how to swim. Milwaukee is surrounded by water: Lake Michigan and three rivers beckon you during our incredibly brief summers. Last summer we also had record levels of rain which brought water to dangerous levels. Imagine not being able to swim on a hot summer day or fearing that the water on your street would pull you from the grasp of your parents.
Where will our precious children learn to swim? I speak as the surviving brother of James who drowned in Buffalo. I also nearly drowned but was rescued by friends a few years after my brother had died. And I remembered being the one black boy in a pool of hostile white students in the 1960s. While rich people parade their multimillion dollar rings, we struggle to remain afloat. On what planet would this situation sound fair or sustainable?
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Comments
Greetings Brothers & Sisters,
Think OWNERSHIP!
Here are some of my thoughts on this matter of a swimming arena for your children.
First all, form a manageable-sized collective body/group of people of like mind. Overstand what your children's needs are (write them down) and then have an audience with a few realtors (see them individually because you want to make notes, compare and discuss among yourselves who is offering the better deal) in your district who will know what properties are available, at reasonable cost, and where you might be granted permission to sink a swimming pool.
To raise funds:
Reach out to the African-American monied people: celebrities, businesses, and churches. You must approach them with a clear plan. However, prior to doing so, your collective body should already be engaged in fundraisers, and this will show those persons that you are serious, and you are about self-help - not just sitting at the gates and begging alms of others. Your aim should be to own your own within your respective locations - close to home. Concentrate your energy, invaluable time and accumulated resources (money) towards acquiring an existing building which may need a little upgrading (in Bermuda we say TLC - tender loving care). The rate of such a building will be cheaper than one which needs no upgrade.
Make it a collective effort (many hands make light work and two heads are better than one) and you will be proud that you did. For the sake of the children stay the course.
I hope this is helpful to you.
To your SUCCESS!
Nana Peggy
Bermuda
Public swimming pools benefit all people, so it's not just about African-American children losing out; rather it's about all people who don't own a home with a pool, live in an apartment complex with a pool or have the financial means to afford a private location (i.e. the Y or other private community center). Growing up in the projects in Queens, we had the requisite dolphin sprinkler or we had to walk about 12 blocks to the nearest public pool in the white community, so we learned there. We also had the benefit of going to camp even if it was only for 2 weeks. There's also public beaches; so we drove the hour or so or even took the subway.
Quite frankly, you don't learn how to swim at a public pool because it's too crowded, so at best you splash around; actual lessons are needed to learn how to swim. Larger high schools tend to have pools and they open to the public during the summer months with limited hours.