Did Private Pool Turn Away Minority Kids?

Pa. Investigating Claim of Discrimination and Racist Comments at Swim Club

(AP)  Members and officials of a private swimming pool in a Philadelphia suburb reacted to a visiting group of minority children by asking them not to return and pulling other kids out of the water, a day camp director said, and the state is investigating.

The Creative Steps camp in northeast Philadelphia had contracted for the 65 children at the day camp to go each Monday afternoon to The Valley Club in Huntingdon Valley, camp director Alethea Wright said Thursday. But shortly after they arrived June 29, she said, some black and Hispanic children reported hearing racial comments.

"A couple of the children ran down saying, 'Miss Wright, Miss Wright, they're up there saying, 'What are those black kids doing here?"'

Wright said she went to talk to a group of members at the top of the hill and heard one woman say she would see to it that the group, made of up of children around ages 5 to 13, did not return.

"Some of the members began pulling their children out of the pool and were standing around with their arms folded," Wright said. "Only three members left their children in the pool with us."

Several days later, the club refunded the camp's $1,950 without explanation, said Wright, who added that some parents are "weighing their options" on legal action.

The swim club denied any racial discrimination. In a statement posted on its Web site Thursday afternoon, The Valley Club said it doesn't have the capacity to deal with outside groups and returned funds to more than one camp.

The club called its membership diverse and said any comments that may or may not have been made by members were not shared by its board.

The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission will immediately investigate, chairman Stephen A. Glassman said Thursday.

"Allegedly, this group was denied the use of a pool based on their race," Glassman said. "If the allegations prove to be true, this is illegal discrimination in Pennsylvania."

The investigation was requested by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The state NAACP president, J. Whyatt Mondesire, who serves on the Human Relations Commission, said in the statement that the commission can hold the club accountable if it is found to have discriminated against the campers.

"The law simply does not allow discrimination based on race," he said.

Sen. Arlen Specter issued a statement calling the allegations "extremely disturbing" and said he was looking into the matter.

Club president John Duesler told Philadelphia television station WTXF that several club members complained because the children "fundamentally changed the atmosphere" at the pool, but that the complaints didn't involve race.

The gated club appeared closed Thursday afternoon, and the guard station at the entrance was unattended.

A club member told a newspaper that she understood the problem was the size of the group, not race. But Wright rejected that explanation, saying the club covers 10 acres with a "nice-sized" pool and a separate pool for younger children. The board, she said, knew that her group included 65 children, and none of them had misbehaved.

"We were not welcome, once the members saw who we were," she said.

Wright said that the children were upset, and that she was looking for a psychologist to speak to them next week. Some have asked her whether they are "too dark" to swim in the pool, she said.

"I'm not going to validate this behavior by adults," Wright said. "It's unacceptable. This is preposterous, and I won't stand for it."

Wright said Girard College has offered to host the children for the summer.

[jabwhitaker]

Our city, South Bend, Indiana once had a pool closed to African-Americans but was supported by taxes dollars. After a lawsuit it was open to Blacks only one day a week. Eventually discrimation was ended. Years later the pool was closed in early 1980's down. Today, it is being rennovated and rehab and will house a "Civil Rights Heritage Museum"

see link to youtube to review the new "Natatorium produced by IUSB.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2eT-z9m0zI

Jessie Whitaker

[South-of-Heaven]

There really is no excuse for this,
BTW wasnt it near there that a group of teens Slaughtered an immigrant?
says allot about the mentality of the place.

[waffledogs]

Rich people + money do not = Brains hahahaha

[acehanlon]

And as to the "evil on evil" person, where do you pull justification out of? You too are guilty of vilifying people you don't agree with and stoke the flames are racism in this country. You and people with your mindset do more to harm minorities than any one. Shame on you, shame on you intellectual peers, and shame on CBS.

[Oregon_State_OSU]

Its amazing how White Trash wanna be Hoidi Toido white people just dont get it in 2009. Grow Up and Be Adults.

[koko98-2009]

I'm so glad the Supreme Court decided that the racial revolution is over in America and nothing more needs to be done to combat the racism that no longer exists in America.

I also wonder how many Latinos belonged to that club?

[hockeymom441]

It's funny to me that any time something bad happens to a black person, it's racially driven. No one cared about the white daycare centers that were asked to leave. But - as usual, any opportunity to get angry or media attention, is passed up before considering all of the facts in a situation. I find some people can't even practice the open-mindedness and fairness that they preach!

[acehanlon]

You are on the mark here, thanks for your keen observation.

[Club_Ams]

brian a wrote:
It is a PRIVATE POOL. End of Story.

I do agree that this story even being discussed is an example of how discrimination is alive in America. I bet none of you heard about what happened in neighboring Ohio. Here is an exert from the story as posted on ohio.com

"Akron police say they aren't ready to call it a hate crime or a gang initiation.

But to Marty Marshall, his wife and two kids, it seems pretty clear.

It came after a family night of celebrating America and freedom with a fireworks show at Firestone Stadium. Marshall, his family and two friends were gathered outside a friend's home in South Akron.

Out of nowhere, the six were attacked by dozens of teenage boys, who shouted ''This is our world'' and ''This is a black world'' as they confronted Marshall and his family.

The Marshalls, who are white, say the crowd of teens who attacked them and two friends June 27 on Girard Street numbered close to 50. The teens were all black."

How many of you heard about this story? Yet every major media is reporting about kids getting kicked out of a pool. YES - RACISM is alive and well in America.

[6591Hou]

But Wright rejected that explanation, saying the club covers 10 acres with a "nice-sized" pool and a separate pool for younger children. The board, she said, knew that her group included 65 children, and none of them had misbehaved.

"We were not welcome, once the members saw who we were," she said.
Wright said that the children were upset, and that she was looking for a psychologist to speak to them next week. Some have asked her whether they are "too dark" to swim in the pool, she said.
===============================================================
Aside from the fact that we do not have all of the information, how many young kids do you know would ask questions formatted like that? i.e. 'are we too dark to swim in the pool'.....that part of the story sounds questionable but apart from that my kids and their guests were kicked out of our subdivision's pool because the vice-president of the HOA, who happened to be at the pool at the time, felt that they were making too much noise (imagine teenage kids in a pool in the summer making noise!). The HOA and I resolved that issue after the fact, but at that time the kids left as they were told. Now move from 5 teenagers to 65 kids and imagine the noise, activity, and how many adults were with that large a group? I don't know how big of a pool it was but 65 kids is a lot of kids to inject into a pool that, apparently, had other people in it. I gathered from the story that whoever booked her group did not follow through with anyone else, the reason I say that is because if you book a room - you don't have anyone else in it when you get there, I would expect the same if you book a pool. So the club is at fault for that at least, they took the money and made the reservation, I find it hard to credit that they were ignorant of the ethnicity of who handed them the money or that they maliciously made the group bus out to their club just to score some points in sending them away. Those factors make no sense. Punish as the law allows the guilty, but let's first find out what all of the facts are.

[tautomer]

Posted by ToldYouSo29 Of course all races can discriminate, --but imagine another race being in power--not the white race......
___________________________________________________________________

Oh you mean like Obama and Eric Holder?

[DaVicar5]

What part of "Private Pool" don't they get?

[davelangton]

What part of Private Property do some people not understand?
If I don't want someone on my property, that should be my call, and mine alone. If anyone doesn't like that, don't invite me onto your property. I can respect the private in other people's private property.

[cbs_tom]

I believe the part that you do not understand is that they had a contract with the pool to swim.

[tautomer]

Typically, such a facilities use contract would include a clause in which the host reserved the right to deny use as it saw fit, possibly with a refund. CBS_Tom do you know whether there was such a clause? It would be very rare not to have one.

Pools, skating rinks, movie theatres, amusement parks etc virtually always reserve the right to eject partrons, You will generally see this printed on the back of a ticket stub or posted clearly.

[twinkie1cat]

I grew up in Birmingham in the 1960s. I watched as the public pools closed and became private clubs to keep out the black children. My favorite one, in an urban community was filled with concrete and made into tennis courts. My mother told me it was because the colored kids carried diseases so they did not want them to swim with the white children. The suburban pools quickly re-opened as "private clubs" with carefully carefully gerrymandered neighborhoods being included as eligible to join, drawn suspiciously similarly to the equally segregated school attendance zones. A whole generation of black children never had the opportunity to learn to swim. So did the white children whose families were too poor to pay the substantial fees designed to be out of reach of low income families at the "clubs".

This is racism, pure and simple. The shocking part is that this is 2009, not 1969 and this happened, not in Birmingham but Pennsylvania, the supposedly "liberal" North, not the "backwards" Deep South. The club should lose its license and be forced to sell its assets to be spread among the harmed children. Racism is something children should read about in history class, not something they experience themselves.

God will judge America because the conservatives have no family values, are racist and classist just like the Sodomites and do not treat people the way Jesus did. God hates hypocrites.

[2foxes]

that is sad i hope they allow me through the Pearlie gates when its my turn hope the angels at the gate r not racist but not the children in the pool after they had payed the fees for membership is wrong

[News195]

Wow. And northerners like to believe this only happens in the south. I guess it makes them feel better to believe that they are better than southerners b/c they don't discriminate. It happens everywhere in this country.

[docpeter1953]

From the above article, "Wright said that the children were upset, and that she was looking for a psychologist to speak to them next week. Some have asked her whether they are "too dark" to swim in the pool, she said."
___________________________________

No honey, you are not too dark to swim, but you may be too fat to sink. OK, I am crude and worthless.

But really, do you think the kids need a psychologist? Geeze, give me a break. When we were young we didn't run to the psychologist every time our feelings were hurt. Tough it out, it may make you a stronger person.

[coreypowell_wv]

but see this type of rejection is what breeds to other types of disorders, i can remember i was 8 and was at a picnic and my grandma had some chicken, and fruit and stuff like that for us and these white kids looke at us and said feeding the monkeys watermelon and bannannas and laughed and now im 34 and i will not eat watermelon or a bananna i dont let my children eat it either. and all of that is do to this one incident

[tautomer]

corey, dats jez plain DUMB!!!!! Watermelon is great! Nice and cool and juicy with that slightly rough texture that tickles you tongue. You really should get yourself one, cool it down and enjoy.

Corey do you remember when everyone was calling Bush a Chimp? Did you think that was funny? How about when they call Obama a chimp?

Corey if you are going to let criticism or ridicule control your behavior you really need an attitude adjustment. Basically, you are telling us that as a 34 yr old man you are allowing a group of kids 30 yrs from in the past direct your actions. That is pitiful.

[natdom210]

Iam not surprise white people have not change much they like to act like times have change trust my when stuff like this come up. I show my kids and let them know you my look at a person face but sometime look threww and youll see there hearts.

[coreypowell_wv]

It is such a shame that this many years after our blood shed and great lives were sacrificed for our freedoms that "mr.charlie" still thinks he can tell us where we are permitted to be. Hasnt any one awakened white america to the fact that the days of jim crow are gone forever and that by God we have a african american president. The glass ceiling filled with its thick shards of color barriers has been shattered and so with that are the days of feeling like our blackness is a prison, a leash around our neck only letting us go so far. So as long as the money stays green and the assumption im sure was that these children were white but when there beautiful brown faces showed up the green dollar sign became a burning fire in the clubs pocket how dare these people actually be able to afford to come to this club.. will the black germs live through the chlorine? will my children start wanting to eat soul food.. omg!! they may even start watching black shows. see it is this type of action that keeps ripping the racial divide between us , its alearned behavior from ignorant people that lkeeps racial tensions at a all time high!here is the funny thing in this as far as i can see, they worried so much about this pool and the effects of white kids swimming with black kids, dont all children urinate in the pool so that water was tainted long before the black people got there.

[YCantWeAllGetAlong]

Ever if they didn't turn the kids away because of it, the people involved will drone on and on and on about it forever and never let it go, relentlessly dredging up the race issue until we're ready to vomit. If the kids would have been white, this wouldn't ever have made the news. The race card being pulled is getting old. Oh and the comment about "why are there African-Americans here" is a bunch of bull. Anyone who is racist is NOT going to use that made up hoity-toity term. I call BS on this whole mess. It's parents or business owners who probably lied about how many kids were coming and got called on it, so as usualy, they pulled the race card.

[coreypowell_wv]

i totally disagree, the number of children they should have said so from the begining why wait till you see that they are black and then say you cant accomidate them? and it is 2009 racist will use that term as you put it, see there is way to much focusing on terms then the human factor.. we all bleed the same. children are hurting because some biggots got upset and it needs to stop.black , white , asian , or latino, we are all gods children and are here to live amongst each other and be happy ... love thy neighbor is what my bible says.

[tntgolden3]

This is a pure case of racism. The club agreed to allow the kids from the camp. Took their money, tossed it in the bank. Was the idea of this program to prevent children from drowning? Does this "club" say "no" to parents with autistic children? No, I don't have kids. Yes, I am a caucasian woman. If America wants to teach it's children anything, then let them learn forgiveness. Generosity is a gift. If one child can learn to swim? That is one less death to read about.
I am so glad I decided not to have kids. WHY?
PEOPLE ARE ********!

[rhs648]

My wife and I have two very fine adult children who are independent and happy. They have blessed us with two wonderful grandchildren. We do not share your sentiments about not having children. In fact, we find it sad that people like you have such perceptions about raising children. Perhaps you are short changing yourself.

[tautomer]

How do you know the club kept the money? Or is that just your assumption,because it suits your particular prejudice?

As to learning to swim, an afternoon at a pool isn't going to do that, sry but NICE try.

You weren't there and you have no direct knowledge of what went on. What you DO know is tha you want to be perceived as an arbiter of truth and light. Spewing ill-informed opinions isn't the way to do it.

As far as the "forgiveness" you speak of...forgive proceeds from understanding, why don't you wait until you understand the issue before commenting? Then maybe you'll forgive the Swim Club....