Sixty-five campers arrived from Creative Steps Day Camp in Northwest Philadelphia to the Valley Swim Club in Huntington Valley, Pa., on June 29.
A win-win situation, right? The swim club earns $1,900 and kids in need of a pool get access.
So, where did it all go wrong?
The camp kids arrived and got into the pool. Valley Swim Club member and eyewitness Jan told talk radio host Michael Smerconish that the campers were behaving nicely and were well supervised:.
“We came in as the campers were there. I joined campers with my grandson [age 6]. The children were playing. It was very crowded. … It was important for me to watch him because there were so many children there. It was crowded, but there were at least two adult counselors. The pool had 2 lifeguards on either side of this area of the pool, which is only 3 feet deep. And there was also a supervisor who called these children out when it was time to leave. It was a very orderly dispensement. She called first for the female campers and then the male campers. It was so orderly and so well regulated both by the part of the staff of the camp and the pool, I knew of no problems.
The children were speaking so nicely with one another. They were conversing back and forth in such a nice manner. … I don’t think it would be a big problem that there were a lot of people there.”
And yet, the campers endured racist comments and were disinvited from the pool:
Camper Dymire Baylor told NBC:
“I heard this lady, she was like, ‘Uh, what are all these black kids doing here?’ She’s like, ‘I’m scared they might do something to my child.’ “
Horace Gibson, a parent of a camper told NBC that “The pool attendants came and told the black children that they did not allow minorities in the club and needed the children to leave immediately.” And on Tuesday, the swim club’s president issued a statement saying, “There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club.”
Valley Club now denies any racism, posting the following on its Web site:
“The Valley Club is deeply troubled by the recent allegations of racism which are completely untrue.
We had originally agreed to invite the camps to use our facility, knowing full well that the children from the camps were from multi-ethnic backgrounds. Unfortunately, we quickly learned that we underestimated the capacity of our facilities and realized that we could not accommodate the number of children from these camps. All funds were returned to the camps and we will re-evaluate the issue at a later date to determine whether it can be feasible in the future.
Our Valley Club deplores discrimination in any form, as is evidenced by our multi-ethnic and diverse membership. Whatever comments may or may not have been made by an individual member is an opinion not shared by The Valley Club Board.
“The kids were well-behaved and have every right to be here,” swim club member Amy Goldman told The Philadelphia Daily News. “It’s shameful.”
While the focus is on protests at the club and investigations into the incident there by Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) and the state Human Relations Commission, another priority needs to be on the children who were told to leave a pool because of the color of their skin. “This is about the children and no child should have been hurt over this,” said pool member Walter Pokish.
Michael Quintero-Moore, 52, of Mount Airy, told the Daily News that he’s sad that children now have to deal with the treatment he thought was long gone.
If you were the parent of one of these children, how would you address the situation?
Monday Morning Update: The Associated Press is reporting that the Valley Club of Huntingdon Valley voted on Sunday to reinstate the memberships of Creative Steps and two other day camps if safety issues, times and terms can be agreed upon. The pool, the AP reports, is seeking a meeting to work out an agreement to have the children return.
-From The Washington Post. Click here for original posting.
Pingback: Twitted by JasparWeir