HUNTINGDON VALLEY, Pa. – The head of a private suburban Philadelphia swim club on Friday defended its cancellation of the memberships of dozens of minority children, saying safety, not racism, was the reason. "We deeply regret this whole situation," John Duesler, president of the board of directors of The Valley Club, told reporters Friday afternoon at the entrance to the club in the leafy suburb of Huntingdon Valley. The Creative Steps camp had arranged for 65 mostly black and Hispanic children to swim each Monday afternoon at the club this summer. But director Alethea Wright said that shortly after they arrived for their first visit, some children reported hearing racial comments, and the camp's $1,950 was refunded a few days later. Duesler said the number of children in the shallow section of the pool, many of them unable to swim, convinced officials that there was a problem. "It was definitely an unsafe situation," he said. The club's actions have prompted an investigation by the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and made headlines across the country. Much of the attention has focused on an earlier statement by Duesler voicing concern that so many children would "change the complexion" or atmosphere of the club, which he acknowledged was "a terrible choice of words." "It was never my intention to imply anything in terms of racial makeup," he said. Duesler said he heard no racial comments from members and that any such remarks did not represent the club's position. Wright, however, said the club knew what size group to expect and had hosted a school group of a similar size a week earlier. She said the comments reported by children and the parents' actions after her group arrived told a different story. "If they're open to membership, why were parents pulling their children out and standing there with their arms crossed?" she said. Meanwhile, the director of another camp that also had its membership canceled said she believes the club's explanation that numbers and not ethnicity was the reason. "It was definitely an overcrowding issue," said Joanne Rosenthal of Storybook Children's Center of northeast Philadelphia. "It was obviously more than they were used to dealing with." Rosenthal said at least half of her 25-member group was made up of racial minorities, and their money was also returned after one visit. But she said she thought the group had been treated "extremely fairly." "It's not a small pool, but two-thirds of it is deep water, which children are not allowed in unless they have passed a deep-water test, so really, only one-third can be used." Rosenthal said. Storybook signed up with the private club because city pools were to be closed this summer because of budget cuts, but the nearby public pool did open after all and the children were swimming there, she said. Wright said several institutions had offered to host the Creative Steps children at their pools for the summer, and she planned to talk to parents to find out where they wanted their children to go. Meanwhile, the state commission has vowed to expedite an investigation after being inundated with calls from all over the country, according to spokeswoman Shannon Powers. "It got bumped to the top of the priority list, so were devoting an extraordinary amount of resources to investigating it," she said. "It's a matter we would like to see resolved quickly." http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090710/ap_on_re_us/us_swim_club_minorities
Immigration - 17 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1
They aren't babies. They're kids, around 11 or so, it seems to me. Also, why is this in immigration? (Oh, and it is disgusting how they were treated, btw. Racism is stupid)
2
if they were babies then there is your answer too young to be there but you question is too long to read too too long
3
It's Philly, what do you expect. Some the nation's most racist, bigoted, bitter old white people live there..
4
Because they were illegal aliens? What the hell is this doing in Immigration?
5
huh? what are your intentions with posting this in the immigration section? dont even think for a second that this justifies what the illegals to to our country. what your post states is only an independent case, and one that is irrelevant for those of us who are against illegals! being against ILLEGAL immigration has nothing to do with race! find something better to do instead of stirring things up on here.
6
A PRIVATE CLUB GETS TO MAKE UP ITS RULES AS IT GOES ALONG. ITS A SIMPLE FACT. DOESNT MATTER WHAT THEIR REASON WAS;...SAFETY OR RACISM. THEY GET TO MAKE UP THE RULES.
7
That's Horrible and inexcusable. It's Total discrimination. How can people be like this? ** ** WOW... and people give me thumbs down? whats wrong with you? That just goes to show we have a number of racist butt holes here in this section of yahoo answers.
8
60 kids from the hood showed up raising hell and ended up getting kicked out. No doubt However this is the stuff that parents get all self righteous about. All those black kids mommas is gonna be going crazy over this screaming racism. All their friends and neighbors chime in, neighborhood hits the street, starts protesting, cops come in. Little incidents like this create tipping points. Race riots! Getcha race riots here!! Get 'em while they're hot!
9
Yes! Right! A swim club tries to help out a predominately minority group of kids just so they can throw them out and be called racists! On what planet do things like that happen? If they knew that none of the children could swim the whole problem might of been avoided! This is just bull cr@p and doesn't belong in immigration anyways!
10
Of course it was racism. Parents pulling children out of the pool, disgusting but typical. If Riot/Jill/ThatGurl/Bombastic etc etc can post stuff about Hispanics with no mention of legal status then everyone else has the right to do so..
11
Sad very sad .This is the reason we have so much trouble in this world.If safety was a issue then this should have been worked out after it was notice but to do this to children is just plain wrong.I believe probably both sides where at fault here.One side didn't see any problem with too many children being in a pool at one time and the other side saw that there where too many but went about solving the problem in the wrong way.Maybe the true reason was for safety but it could have been worked out Im sure.In the end you have children looking at adults acting like fools instead of working together to fix the problem.
12
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA thats pretty funny but im not Racist but i know all of you will say i am so think whatever you want and i wouldnt be surprised if the people at the pool just got drive byed the next day.
13
I live in this area. The article failed to mention that the club also canceled swimming and returned money to two other children's groups,that were predominantly white,because the club could not handle the amount of children coming in. Most of them could not swim and there was not enough staff members to insure every ones safety. Funny that it gets spinned that the only group that was asked not to come back was a minority group when that wasn't the case at all.
14
.from the clubs website: The Pool is Filled! Come Enjoy our Great Club Friday, Saturday & Sunday! We Are Now Accepting Credit Cards Online! skin color must not be darker then the darkest tan of our white members!!! Visit Our Secure Online Application Page Here OR Download Our 2009 Full-time Membership App Here or our Part-time Membership App Here! community | facilities | contact | swim team | activities | memberships | staff | rules of operation > blacks and other minorites must agree to use the service entrance near the kitchen.
15
This is so dumb. Why didn't they just rotate and have the kids do some other activities at the place? Do they only have a pool? Also why not TEACH these kids how to swim. This sounds like bad planning. They mishandled it and it doesn't sound like it was a racist issue since they did the same to two mostly white groups. Added: They are suing the country club. There are websites to send a letter of protest about this incident. The country club has taken down its website. I doubt that they will be getting any new members... Philadelphia has a lot of non-whites. This kind of stuff would go by unnoticed in middle-America but not in Philadelphia. If they didn't want any minorities they should have never signed the contract with the camps, because they would not be able to screen the campters. I don't agree with that kind of segregation but it is a private club and they can discriminate but it was mean for them to do that to children.
16
I agree with lucero, it was mismanagement. they were looking at the dollar signs and not the amount of children and scheduling. If it was racially motivated, they should be shut down and prosecuted. But this does not say one word in the article about any immigration etc... what are you profiling Again.
17
I knew it was going to be about money. The black "victims" have already filed litigation. Mostly this story is just funny. I was a lifeguard at a mostly black pool once. The community center kids would fill up the pool. Now this was years ago, the kids were rowdy but all kids are rowdy. This might have been the reason, throwing in 60 kids into a private pool, I'd get out of the pool. I think lawsuits like this are pathetic. Who cares if they are racist? Black people are usually really racist themselves.
