It's weird how life imitates art -- like the book I'm currently reading, which is supposed to be history but now feels more like current events. It's called "Sweet Land of Liberty" by Penn professor Thomas Sugrue, and it's a history of the American civil rights movement...in the Deep North, including right here in Philadelphia. Sugrue's overarching point is that while segregation was not deeply embedded in the laws here as it was in the South, it was still a way of life from schools to housing (much is said about the integration of Levittown) to movie theatres, and many brave souls had to do battle for their American liberties. The other night, I was reading Sugrue's passage on how desegration of swimming pools -- where co-ed crowds in bathing suits came in close contact, generating anxiety -- was especially thorny in the North.
He notes this example from the other side of Pennsylvania, where a favorable court ruling in the city of Pittsburgh in 1950 and the hiring of a black lifeguard in 1953 had encouraged activists:
Flush with victory, activists had targeted schools just outside the city limits, but there, without the law behind them, they faced intense opposition. When a group of unionists and Catholic priests threatened to cancel events at suburban Kennywood Park to protest discrimimation, park managers converted the swimming area into a "boating lake" to keep would-be Negro bathers away. "We have found our swimming pool was not a particularly profitable operation," claimed the pool manager. "Regardless of our personal feelings," he claimed, "we are not in a position where we can afford to take a chance on a riot or on racial disorder. We have to cater to the majority." At Alleghemy County's South Park, which had two pools, officials continued to 'escort Negroes" away from the main pool to a smaller one, pursuing a "separate but equal" swimming policy. In July, two members of a teenage youth group demanded that they be allowed into the main pool, but their efforts met with counterattack. A white lifeguard "advised them that if they wanted to avoid bloodshed," that they should leave. After the brouhaha, park officials promised that "Negroes have the same rights and privileges as other persons" and pledged that black swimmers would be treated fairly. At nearby West Park, officials avoided integration altogether by closing the pool, filling it in and paving it over."
I reprint this because it's one of those passages you read and think, "Wow, was that really happening in America less than 60 years ago?' It's pretty remarkable, and to paraphrase Hemingway, isn't it pretty to think so that we've come such a long way since then. Until you wake up two days later and wonder how far society has really come after all:
A Huntington Valley swim club is facing accusations of racial discrimination after 65 children from a Northeast Philadelphia day camp claim they heard prejudicial remarks by club members and later had their club membership rescinded.
The children, kindgergarten through 7th graders who attend the Creative Steps, Inc. day camp, showed up to the pool at The Valley Swim Club on June 29.
While the campers were swimming, Alethea Wright, executive director of Creative Steps, said three children came up to her and said they heard club members asking what African Americans were doing at the club.
There is racial progress in America -- but it's sure easy to get swept away in the powerful symbols, most notably a black president and even the wall-to-wall TV coverage of the funeral of a popular African-American entertainer. Symbols can be just that, while real progress against deep-seated and irrational prejudices can be a neverending struggle, a million small battles fought in places like a quiet suburban swimming pool. Which is why they sing that "We shall overcome...some day."
(Photo at top is from St. Louis Globe-Democrat archives-University of Missouri. The black swimmers, photographed in 1949, were reportedly attacked by an angry white mob not long after the picture was taken.)
I smell a lawsuit-and the swim club deserves it! I don't think reprehensible is adequate to describe their behavior. Really disgusting. Hard to believe this nonsense still goes on.— georgel
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Will, don't you have something better to write about? Some children "claim they heard prejudicial remarks by club members and later had their club membership rescinded". Why do I think there might be more to this story? So sick and tired of talking about race all the time...and guys like Will Bunch can't wait to stir the pot. By the way, Feminem, lose the mug and the cheesy grin...- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- Stand by for the usual conservative suspects to come in here and try to justify denying the kids use of the pool, after they'd already paid, for racial reasons. They just can't help themselves...though it seems they've already started trying to find excuses for the inexcusable.— seanfromnj
- Will, when is the last time you tried to enter a club in North Philly? What was the reception like? Yes, Will, there really is prejudice on both sides. Maybe........some day, you'll write about that too. Then we really might be able to Overcome.— sarah89
- Some sites are reporting that the Valley swim club president ran a blood drive to support Obama and is a major Obama supporter. It just proves that liberals should shut up when they want to claim conservatives are more racist. For example, most white liberals I know are the first to have moved out when our neighborhood began to have African Americans live in it. Liberals speak about tolerance, but most don't live it.— Walleyez
This article is poorly written, and publishing it in its current state is dangerous. It's obvious that the author has no idea what really happened, else she would have explained it in the article. If what is suggested in the article is true, that tha AA campers were met by resistance from club management because of their race, then club management should be replaced. There is no place in our society for such bold racism. However, it is obvious from reading the article that there are details missing from the story. 3 club members made racial remarks, then the black kids got kicked out of the pool? More likely was a 6 year old member said naughty racist words, a confrontation ensued, and it escalated to camp counselors who confronted club management in an unproductive way. When the club assented, and gave the day camp their money back, the story wrote itself, and we're back in the 1950's. Equating what happened in this case with the expicit segregation of the 1950's is dishonest and a fraud of the highest order. Will Bunch has damaged the African-American community with this kind of sloppy-journalism-activism. A little bit of professional journalism and investigation would have been an asset to the community. Instead we get this nonsense from Bunch.— Mr. Smith- Will, easy for you to write about it from your ivory tower. Why dont you do your part to integrate the pools in the inner city ? Do your kids use those facilities? Drive by some day and look at the racial balance there. There is a cultural difference between peoples, accept it and move on. Last I checked, there is no law that prohibits us from deciding with whom we socialize. Unless the current administation decides to CHANGE that.— AngryWhiteMale
- By the way, this is not confined to the US...— AngryWhiteMale
- These comments are laughable. Complain the story doesn't have all the facts, then offer pure speculation to fill in the perceived gaps. Undoubtedly there is more to the story than what is written. My guess is the club officials will say very little because of fear of lawsuits, so we are hearing mostly one side. But that is only a guess, and until all the facts come out, all we know is what the reporters were able to find out from those who did talk to them.
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"Kindergarten thru 7th graders" People have got to stop doing this kind of thing to kids. As a country, from abortion to child abuse (mental and physical), and our education system, children are subjected to too many awful things, and suffer for the ignorance and shortcomings of many adults. This incident may be comparatively small, but this is the kind of thing a child will carry around for life. We need to do better when it comes to our children.— jmc- These are the facts. Neighborhood organization pays for memberships to a swim club. Membership rescinded for no obvious reason. Conclusions are drawn and blanks are filled in because the club does not choose to respond to the organizations request for an explanation. The said organization takes their case to the media and the organization still does not respond. If they did nothing untoward, then why not publicly state their case.— BLKMD
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
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