Pool Boots Kids Who Might "Change the Complexion"

[No Cute]

Not only should this place be shut down, but the fees the parents paid should be repaid by a good multiplier for what these arrogant racists did to those children. Imagine PAYING to have your child kicked out for being the wrong complexion.

WTF indeed.

[~Fabulousity~]

Originally Posted by sweetneet

Exactly. My hunch is that the club management asked the camp kids to leave mainly after seeing that the other club members were getting obviously uncomfortable after seeing 65 minority kids get in the pool. The club management then likely became afraid of eventually losing the membership of a good portion of its members (mostly non-minority, as the article described). The negative reaction of the other club members was the one thing the club management could not have anticipated happening before agreeing to the camp's membership contract, which is probably why the club initially accepted the membership & payment of the camp even while knowing full well that they were 65 kids and they were mostly minorities. Nonetheless, it is still discrimination and I hope the club pays for it in some form.

Exactly and lets not forget the "change complexion" comment that was made.

[vbskull]

It is so crazy to think that people can pull stunts like this and think that they can get away with it. I can't believe it is 2009 and we still have racist people. They can believe what they want but they cant break the law doing it. I feel bad for the children, they must be so confused.

[claireZk]

Originally Posted by uab*mom

Oh, because I thought it was "Creative Steps Day Camp paid Valley Swim Club" $1900 for one swim day a week..........

I have no idea... I just know that either way, I'm not surprised... I won't get into how I feel about NE Philadelphia where this happened (which is actually, technically, a suburb), but lets just say I'm not a fan.

[vhdos]

Originally Posted by uab*mom

Oh, because I thought it was "Creative Steps Day Camp paid Valley Swim Club" $1900 for one swim day a week..........

Yes, you are correct.

I think the private swim club realized that financially, allowing camps of children pool access, was not a good financial decision because they feared losing regular members (and I'm sure that this was a racial issue too as well as an overcrowding issue)
Not that I don't think race played a role here, but I can also look at this from other points of view too. I am currently a member of a private swim club and I would most certainly be upset if large numbers of children were entering the pool throughout the summer. I pay money to belong to a private swim club to avoid the over-crowding of public pools.
I feel bad for the kids in this situation because they are the ones who suffer from all of this. I was happy to hear that someone was kind enough to offer a place for them to swim.

[sweetneet]

another article, from this morning. the parts i bolded indicate that apparently the number of children was not a problem for this club.

http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/news...s-in-pool.html

A slap in the face over color of kids in pool
By: Phil Gianficaro
Bucks County Courier Times

"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."

You know what I'm deeply troubled by? I'm deeply troubled by The Valley Club's pathetic statement listed above. It was posted on its Web site on Thursday in response to the racial firestorm that has hit the private club in Lower Moreland like a tsunami.

But I'll get back to that.

What I'm mostly troubled by is how agonizingly difficult it must be for Creative Steps Day Camp founder Alethea Wright and the parents of the kids who attend the camp to explain to the black kids and brown kids from Philadelphia why they can't go swimming at The Valley Club every Monday this summer as expected.

"The kids have asked me if the reason we can't go swimming there anymore is because our skin is too dark," Wright said Thursday. "What am I supposed to say to them? What are their parents supposed to say to them?"

On June 29, 65 campers between the ages of 5 and 13 quickly learned that having a black man in The White House has not snuffed out bigotry as easily as a cigarette butt on the sidewalk.

Creative Steps paid The Valley Club $1,950 to allow its campers to swim for 90 minutes each Monday from June 29 through Aug. 10. It was a chance for kids to be kids on a summer afternoon. A chance for kids from the inner city to come to the suburbs and breathe.

But what those kids from Philadelphia learned is that even in the sweet-smelling 'burbs, you're bound to find something that stinks.

That day, those kids felt bigotry howling like a frigid wind. Wright said she saw white families pulling their kids out of the swimming pool and crossing their arms over their chests in defiance. She said the kids heard people asking "what are these black kids doing here?" They were made to feel as unwanted as ants at a family picnic.

Two days later, Wright was informed by club president John Duesler they couldn't come back. He told Wright he'd like them to stay, but that the membership overruled him at an emergency meeting. He told them their money would be refunded.

Order - and color - was restored in the 'burbs.

NBC 10 reported on Wednesday that the club had released a statement from Duesler saying that "there was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion" and "the atmosphere" of the club.

"This is a slap in the face," Wright said. "The club is saying publicly we weren't thrown out because of race, but there's no other way to see it. Read the quote from the club about not wanting us there because they don't want to change the complexion of the pool. The complexion of the pool! What else could that mean?

"When our kids see this, what hope does this give them? Every time I think we're making progress as a society, this kind of thing happens."

The Valley Club's statement on its Website says it underestimated the capacity of its facility. Are these guys kidding me? Don't tell me they didn't do the math beforehand. Don't tell me they didn't know that adding 65 kids and eight counselors on a Monday to a pool of a certain size and membership might or might not be a problem. The numbers were right; it's the color that was wrong for many club members.

The club further states it will re-evaluate the issue at a later date. Why? Are they planning to expand the pool? Are they considering restricting members from swimming on a particular day to accommodate campers? Are they funding sensitivity training seminars for all of those members laying in the sun trying to get darker? Just what will change?

The club also states it deplores discrimination of any form. Really? If that's true, then those members who pulled their kids out of the pool and questioned why black kids are at their pool on June 29 should be the ones shown the door.

The club statement also says that the club's board does not share the opinion of racial comment that may have been made on that day. However, by allowing those people to remain members, and by telling a bunch of minority kids they can't swim anymore at their club, they are indeed sharing those opinions.

Twelve days before the Creative Steps campers were shown the door, Wright said The Valley Club hosted four sixth-grade classes from Rydal East Elementary School in Abington. Only two of the nearly 80 kids were minorities. One of them was Wright's 11-year-old son, Marcus.

A wonderful time was had by all.

[sweetneet]

Originally Posted by vhdos

Yes, you are correct. I think the private swim club realized that financially, allowing camps of children pool access, was not a good financial decision because they feared losing regular members. Not that I don't think race played a role here, but I can also look at this from other points of view too. I am currently a member of a private swim club and I would most certainly be upset if large numbers of children were entering the pool throughout the summer. I pay money to belong to a private swim club to avoid the over-crowding of public pools. I feel bad for the kids in this situation because they are the ones who suffer from all of this. I was happy to hear that someone was kind enough to offer a place for them to swim.

according to the article I just posted, a few weeks earlier the club had previously allowed a group of 80 children (mostly non-minority) to swim at the club and no one at the club had a problem with it. So that refutes any argument about how the club didn't want large groups of children there in general. also, the Creative Steps Day camp paid the club nearly two grand for the kids to swim for 90 minutes every Monday from June 29 to August 10. Note that is only 7 days out of the entire summer, and only 1.5 hours per day. Not exactly like the camp kids were going to be "taking over" the pool. Further, the club management knew full well how many kids there were and had agreed to the membership and accepted the money. Only once the kids showed up and other members got uncomfortable, did the club hold an emergency meeting and voted to kick out the camp kids. To be quite honest, I don't see how anyone can look at all these facts and not see this for what it is.

I'm all for giving people the benefit of the doubt when claims like this arise, but the facts here really say otherwise.

[Veelyn]

Wow... Its a shame that things like this are still happening in 2009.

[vhdos]

Originally Posted by sweetneet

according to the article I just posted, a few weeks earlier the club had previously allowed a group of 80 children (mostly non-minority) to swim at the club and no one at the club had a problem with it. So that refutes any argument about how the club didn't want large groups of children there in general. also, the Creative Steps Day camp paid the club nearly two grand for the kids to swim for 90 minutes every Monday from June 29 to August 10. Note that is only 7 days out of the entire summer, and only 1.5 hours per day. Not exactly like the camp kids were going to be "taking over" the pool. Further, the club management knew full well how many kids there were and had agreed to the membership and accepted the money. Only once the kids showed up and other members got uncomfortable, did the club hold an emergency meeting and voted to kick out the camp kids. To be quite honest, I don't see how anyone can look at all these facts and not see this for what it is. I'm all for giving people the benefit of the doubt when claims like this arise, but the facts here really say otherwise.

And, again, I said in my two earlier posts, that race was an issue. I was also saying that there may be additional factors (like overcrowding).

[unluckystars]

Originally Posted by claireZk

I have no idea... I just know that either way, I'm not surprised... I won't get into how I feel about NE Philadelphia where this happened (which is actually, technically, a suburb), but lets just say I'm not a fan.

it did not happen in ne philadelphia. it was in the suburb of huntingdon.

[sweetneet]

Originally Posted by vhdos

And, again, I said in my two earlier posts, that race was an issue. I was also saying that there may be additional factors (like overcrowding).

okay, but what i'm saying is that the facts show that overcrowding was not an issue here at all, since the club had previously allowed a larger group of non-minority children to swim without any complaints. further, news articles mention other members of the club saying how the day the kids were kicked out the pool was "half empty" and how the busiest times at the pool was on Saturdays and Sundays, not on Monday afternoons (when the camp kids would be swimming). and further still, if the pool was really not prepared to handle a group of 65 kids at once, why did the club make the deal & accept the money in the first place? Logically, the club's arguments about "overcrowding" do not add up.

[HauteMama]

^ I agree that overcrowding was NOT an issue in this case. Like pp have said, the club accepted larger groups of non-minority children, and they knew in advance how many children would be coming from the camp they rejected. They are not brand new, and they know how many children their pool can accomodate. They have accepted large groups in the past without issue, so overcrowding is NOT a component of this.

[sweetneet]

ha...well up until now, the club director kept claiming that the reason they turned away the camp kids was because the large number of kids would change the "complexion" and the "atmosphere" of the club. Now he's saying, forget that, it was actually a "safety" issue and the that the club didn't have enough lifeguards etc to handle all the kids.

I don't know, but when people change their stories around like that, it is usually a very good indication that they're lying and are scrambling to try to cover something up. i mean, if safety really was the issue, why not say just that in the first place? why talk about how a bunch of kids affect "the atmosphere" of the club?

still, their new "safety" argument doesn't really hold water (no pun intended, lol) if a larger group of non-minority kids were allowed to swim without any complaints from the club.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/br...the_issue.html

Pool president: Safety, not race, is the issue

By Joelle Farrell, Derrick Nunnally and Zoe Tillman
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS

The president of a suburban swim club at the center of a racial discrimination controversy said today safety factors - not racism - prompted the pool to rescind a contract with a Northeast Philadelphia day camp.

John Duesler also said he chose his words poorly in an earlier statement explaining why the the Valley Club was ending its arrangement with the predominantly black and Hispanic camp.

In that statement to NBC10, he said, "There is a lot of concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion ... the atmosphere of the club."

"This is a terrible misinterpretation of what I stand for. This is just wrong," Duesler said while standing with his wife Bernice at the pool's gate. "That was a terrible choice of words, I admit."

He said that what he meant to convey was the number of campers in the pool compared to the number of available lifeguards had created an unsafe environment.

"It was just too many kids on top of each other," Duesler said. "Many of them couldn't swim."

He said the pool's board did not properly think through the demands of handling a large number of campers.

Duesler spoke a day after a state agency announced it was investigating the Huntingdon Valley swim club for possible racial discrimination after revoking the contract.

Officials and antidiscrimination groups expressed concern over the allegedly race-motivated decision and protesters assembled outside the Valley Club's locked gates twice yesterday.

Among them were Silvia Carvalho, 32, of Northeast Philadelphia, and her daughter, Araceli Bagwell, 9, who had been among the city campers swimming at the club.

"This is pathetic," Carvalho said. "The next day, she was telling me she was a minority. I don't want her looking at herself that way. We are not going to allow someone to humiliate us like this."

Homer Floyd, executive director of the state Human Relations Commission, said the civil-rights agency began its investigation after receiving requests from the NAACP and other groups.

"We thought that with issues like this - swim clubs and so forth - we had crossed that hurdle, but clearly we have not," Floyd said.

In a letter to the club, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (D., Pa.) suggested the day campers be allowed to return.

On June 29, 65 black and Hispanic children from the city camp Creative Steps Inc. made their first visit to the Montgomery County club and heard some members make racial remarks and escort their own children away from the pool, Creative Steps executive director Aletha Wright said.

Last Friday, the Valley Club refunded a $1,950 check to the camp in Oxford Circle to terminate the agreement allowing children from kindergarten through seventh grade to swim at the club.

A statement on the club's Web site yesterday said its leaders were "deeply troubled by the recent allegations of racism, which are completely untrue."

The statement says the day campers were turned away because they overwhelmed the 110,000-gallon pool.

"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," the statement says.

A worker at another Northeast Philadelphia day camp that had an agreement to use the Valley Club this summer, Storybook Children's Center, said she believed the club's account.

Monica Scanlon said that she took 25 children of diverse ethnicities to the club pool this summer, but that the noise had clearly been too great for comfort.

Valley Club president John Duesler apologetically refunded Storybook's money, as he did for Creative Steps.

"He was trying to help us out, because there weren't supposed to be city pools open this year," said Scanlon, who contacted The Inquirer after learning of the controversy.

By phone, Valley Club board member Fred Helbig, 71, said that he had not heard any race-related comments at the pool on June 29 and that the club does not discriminate.

"We have people who are black, people who are Asian, and Russians and Jewish people," Helbig said.

Other board members could not be reached for comment.

The club, which is unaffiliated with the Huntingdon Valley Country Club, is just outside Philadelphia's city limits and was founded in 1954, when pressure was emanating from within the city to integrate pools. In 1953, State Sen. Charles R. Weiner (R., Phila.) had offered a bill to desegregate all public pools. In 1951, the Rev. Harrison DeShields of South Philadelphia sued pool operators across the city and suburbs, alleging discrimination.

The new allegations against the Valley Club prompted questions of whether it was resisting decades of racial progress.

[Roo]

I saw this story featured on NBC news last night. The worst part was that a very young boy was interviewed and when asked about what he thought about the situation, he said "What those people did to us is just wrong...." He has such a sad look in his eyes.

[Bella]

Too late Pool President! You already showed us who you are.