Club That Ousted Blacks May Let Them In

But State Agency, U.S. Senator Threaten Civil Rights Investigation of Overwhelmingly White Pa. Swim Club

(AP)  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 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."

[woodstiger38]

Give the director of Valley Swim Club a call; he loves to hear from you.
John G Duesler
74 Radburn Rd
Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006-6755
C-215-913-0569
[phone]

[koko98-2009]

Maybe Clarence Thomas would like to accompany these kids when they go back and maybe get some "empathy" on what goes on racially in the real world.

[mswolfestock]

Those idiots at the swim club have created 65 angry young kids. Some of these kids will stay angry, and THAT is the real crime here. When a young mind is filled with anger and resentment, learning and growing will not happen.

THANKS A LOT HUNTINGDON VALLEY SWIM CLUB AND CONGRATULATIONS ON TAKING US BACK TO THE DAYS OF JIM CROW.

[blog_fever2]

Makes you say hmmm... If this pool thought they did NOTHING wrong, why hold such a meeting? They knew it was racist and now they are feeling the pressure. If I were the camp, I wouldn't go back. The kids would not enjoy it and neither would the club members. The administration at this facility already made their choice... They just need to suffer the consequences.

[toldyouso29]

What was the OFFICIAL reason given for the cancellation of the day camp's membership? And was that official reason completely valid, or easily verified as being invalid?

I'll let the investigation proceed and I won't automatically assume that a dispute between two groups of people who happen to be different races MUST be racially motivated."

THE "OFFICIAL REASON" GIVEN FOR revoking the temporary membership was that the pool lacked capacity. Too bad the Director did not think that through.

The fees charged to the camp computed the amounts based on how many kids would be attending and for how many sessions. The camp director has released her emails with the club director to CNN which shows that the amount of kids was known and accepted by the director prior to accepting the funds from the camp. Anymore stupid --"evidently-failed to read the article" questions?

[willcad]

Let's not immediately jump to the conclusion that just because one group is white, and the other is not, that the motivation behind the cancellation of membership was racial, wholely racial, and nothing but racial.

Some of the kids reported hearing racial remarks at the pool from other members. But did the kids make any racial remarks themselves?

Some of the members pulled their own kids from the pool when the 65 minority kids jumped in. But was it because they were minority kids, or were the minority kids being loud, disruptive, and intimidating towards the members' kids?

The Creative Steps' Day Camp had its membership revoked and its dues refunded. But was it because the camp is mostly made up of minority kids, or was it due to the kids' behavior at the pool?

What was the OFFICIAL reason given for the cancellation of the day camp's membership? And was that official reason completely valid, or easily verified as being invalid?

I'll let the investigation proceed and I won't automatically assume that a dispute between two groups of people who happen to be different races MUST be racially motivated.

[toldyouso29]

Some of the kids reported hearing racial remarks at the pool from other members. But did the kids make any racial remarks themselves?

Some of the members pulled their own kids from the pool when the 65 minority kids jumped in. But was it because they were minority kids, or were the minority kids being loud, disruptive, and intimidating towards the members' kids?


Have you actually read the article and been following the story? Even the director of the club and members of the club have affirmed that the kids behaved themselves admirably and were very polite and did not cause trouble. REading comprehension. It's a beautiful thing--esp since most cases of bigotry and racism are due to "not knowing" better known as IGNORANCE. lol

[amateurradio]

What people seem to be losing sight of is that this is a private club. They do have that fabled "right of association" (see the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution). Their behavior might be idiotic, absurd or bigoted - but it isn't illegal.

[toldyouso29]

What you are forgetting is the circumstances--the right to freely associate flies out of the window and is dictated to by state and federal laws when any organization enters into transactional services with the public. When they do that, they are held to the same standard/laws and rules as everyone else.

This means the club has the right to exclude blacks as long as they do not take public money OR money from the public--the minute that is done and the transaction includes a minority; then the laws applying to discrimination and other civil issues apply.

This is why members of Congress asked for the investigation--because once they entered into an agreement, their behavior and conduct was governed by the state and country's rules in the matter at large and not by their personal rules.

[gramto8]

Once they accepted the money for those kids to become members, YES, it was illegal to harass them for being of a different ethnicity. Harassment can take many forms, including the verbiage and actions mentioned in this case.

[Newster1]

Wo cares? if a PRIVATE club or business doesn't want you, for whatever reason, go spend your hard-earned money and time at one who DOES!

[skyk-2009]

No because that is NOT the law and NO club or business for that matter should be above the Law.

[toldyouso29]

by tmittelstaed July 12, 2009 10:38 PM PDT
I hope that the club allows the camp to swim for free, that would be a nice gesture and I'm sure the camp could use the money better than the swim club. While I understand the apprehension of the children my guess would be that the day the children come back that all of the non-racists in the swim club would be there to make absolutely sure that the racists in the club put a sock in it. I would think that the camp bringing the children back to the club would be a fantastic lesson in teaching the children that it is important to stand up against racists.


Are you a white person?

I polled at least 10 blacks the other day about your comment that being asked about WElfare was racist and disrespectful and found NONE who did not think it was racist. In fact, they said it was one of the many stupid things even well meaning white did to them--that, and expect them to know famous blacks or ask them to sing or dance (because everyone knows blacks do those things so well) all are denigrating--because they reduce a person down to their skin color and the expectations for that skin color--now you make the comment that the blacks should get free swimming--why? so whites can say they are moochers. it does not show the price of racism--it plays into the same stereotypes that angers whites and justifies their resistance to affirmative action and other attempts to level the playing field and it underlines the concept of shiftless, scheming blacks, who make up stories looking for a handout.

only a white person or a very indoctrinated sort of Clarence Thomas personality would be thinking that way--are you one of those?

[Stormy500]

"Club That Ousted Blacks May Let Them In"

That's mighty white of them.

I hope the parents give them a resounding NO.

[toldyouso29]

It would be fitting, that no matter what they offer..NO minorities touch them with a 10 foot pole--that way, when they try to show that they are not racists--they find it hard to find tokens willing to front for them.

The move was advised by the club's attorney and its sole purpose was to soften the investigation by showing the "willingness of the club to negotiate and meet the people halfway. It is a joke and a sham--it fools no one. I would not allow any kids of mine to go there and would pull them out of the camp if the director was so weak and stupid that she allowed her camp and the kids from that camp to be used this way.

They made this bed--let their racist butts lay in it--and if they don't want to "appear" so racist when their excuses for their acts are found to be lies--let them find the going hard to redeem themselves. the campers owe them nothing and certainly, what fool wants to go to a place where it has been made blatantly clear that they are not wanted? What is the point to that? As for "free swimming" stop trying to get stuff for free--blacks are prouder than that and are NOT the freeloading schemers that racist whites like to say that they are.