So, the pool in Huntingdon Valley is back-pedaling and offering to work things out with the Day Camp that they had turned away. So, is it better late than never? Or you snooze, you lose? That is, should Camp come back? And regardless of whether they do or not, what should we think of the pool club?
My quick take from a distance and with little info is that the folks running the pool club are a bunch of weasels. And I don't mean that in a good way.
Jeez. This woman now needs to get a grip and get over the situation. Typical "blank" person. The camp is milking this situation for all it's worth. You don't hear the swim club inviting back the other 2 camps that isn't dominated by minorities. Hows that fair? African Americans are always the first to pull out the race card.
ReplyDeleteWhat wonderful spouting of bigoted nonsense. "African Americans always pull out the race card." Maybe because they got slapped with it by the pool supervisors. The other two camps didn't have to suffer the indignity of the racist comments made by pool members. They weren't kicked out because of the number of kids there, since the pool supervisors already knew how many would be there. They didn't expect anyone to find out, and who cares if a bunch of blacks get offended?
ReplyDeleteI had to delete two comments (and will be posting a blog entry detailing my comment policy now that I have think one up) because one seemed to be quite racist and the other posted the home address (it seems) for the President of the pool club.
ReplyDeleteOne could assert that the pool club was merely incompetent, rather than racist, as the group could have been too large. But, wouldn't they have asked how big the group was before admitting them? If not, then they are just incompetent, which is the default answer in most situations like this. But again, I go back to the first comments about atmosphere and complexion.
Feel free to disagree with me, but be respectful about it.
words can be taken out of context too dont forget that. As for the director being racist thats a matter of opinion. Everyone has a right to their own opinion even the director. The real issue here is the day care camp decided that instead of actually thinking about why they really got disinvited they imediately pulled out its because we are black card. What would happen if one of those kids died because they didnt have enough staff to make sure everyone was safe? Would it then be oh they let our black baby die because he's black? No it would be our child died because they didnt bring enough lifegaurds to watch all of the children. Now you got a wrongful death lawsuit because the club wasn't staffed properly.
ReplyDeletePersonally the club did the right thing by admitting that they did not have the appropriate staff to handle the amount of kids that were brought. Also you need to understand this wasnt the only group that was disinvited but it is the only one that brought out the racist card. At what point do you stop using "its because we are black" and simply start looking at the real reason that you dont get what you want. The lady is right this is 2009 not 1960 where they had to sit at the back of the bus. Its time to stop using the race card and get over it.
I tend to agree with Steve. I think there is a degree of incompetent dumb people working there. That part of Pa does not have the sharpest tools in the shed. Then again, every state has a section of non sharp tools...lol. I think it really boils down to whether the school admitted minorities to the pool in the past before this incident happened. The members of the club who made the racially offensive comments need to be dealt with accordingly. Members are lucky they do not live in NJ. They have strict laws pertaining to assault via racially offensive comments. Unfortunately, racism or some form of "ism" has been around for a few thousand years and will continue to be around in the future. This club needs to "smooth" things over and work things out. There are State and Federal laws that may have been violated. Once the Fed gets on your case...you are toast!! Board of Directors of club need to shut their mouths and fix it!!
ReplyDeleteLet's focus on some facts, One, the pool club mismanaged the issue from the beginning and the racist comments were from members that were at the pool. So with all this information I don't see any race card issue. If the comments hadn't been made you wouldn't have had the perception. When children point things out like that you know they heard it for what it was. The members were idiots and I wish I was around when the comments were made because I would have definitely put them in their place. Now the club management may need some training on how to reprimand club membership for their behavior and not endorse behavior that is not conducive to a positive environment for children. Instead of performing damage control, take action against those that made the comments and rectify the situation. Move forward and show that you have zero tolerance when it comes to discriminatory behavior of any kind. The bold and callous remarks about let the chips fall where they may is an indication of a over confident ignorant view of reality. Oh the chips are going to fall like a ton of bricks on their heads for months to come.
ReplyDeleteMilitary Retired.
When my kids were little, I put them into a summer camp that was predominantly African American. In my view, this accomplished 2 important things: 1) It was a high-quality, low-cost camp that gave my kids a happy summer experience with lots of sports activities, and 2) My white kids were able to interact and make close friendships with kids of non-white "races".
ReplyDeleteWhat I did not expect was what happened at a local swimming pool and on field trips. At a local pool, the children in this camp were called racial names. Then my own children were asked, "Are you N's too?" "What's your name? Your last name is black? Then YOU are black! ha ha ha..." My kids were only having the experience that African American kids have every day in America.
On a field trip to Chicago, our bus pulled in to a gas station to use the restroom and buy snacks. Their faces fell as 50 mostly black and brown children loaded off of the bus. We were told the restroom facilities were broken. One of the black mothers on the trip actually decided to kick in the restroom door, which she accomplished, and found that the toilet facilities worked fine. It was an experience I will never forget.
--CB, at that time in Indiana.
They signed up for 30 kids but showed up with 65. Two other day care centers were also turned away for similar reasons. The club thought it was having a small well-monitored group of kids coming to use the pool as a group function - not twice as many children whom they would be responsible for monitoring. With children involved the questions of safety, noise and following the rules always become higher priorities. They should have thought things through on both sides and made a better contract from the beginning. It was only after one club complained to the media about 'some private member comments' overheard there that everyone began complaining about racial issues.
ReplyDeleteSo why aren't the other camps getting invited back?
ReplyDeleteprobably because they didn't pull out the race card and make it a public showdown. They realized that the reasons that they were given actually make sense instead of trying to get their face on tv.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the information given to the press, the pool was well aware that it was 65 children, not 30, and should have had enough lifeguards so that there were no security problems. That this has happened with three different daycares seems to indicate that the pool does contracts without taking logistics into consideration, which is hardly the daycares' fault. Upon discovering there was a logistical problem, the pool should have worked it out with the daycare for the next week. Instead, the pool sent the daycare their money back and told them to go away, which again indicates that whoever is running this pool has very little interest in being responsible.
ReplyDeleteRacist comments were made when the children were there, not about their number, but about their skin color. The president of the pool then says to the press that the problem was not that there were too many children, raising a security issue, but that the children changed the complexion and atmosphere of the pool. They were undesirable and they were kicked out. We only heard about the "security issues" after the hue and cry had already been raised.
The pool and its president played the race card, not the daycare center. And the actions of the people who run the pool are now being examined on the national stage because of their behavior and statements to the press. Your pool will be very lucky if it avoids a lawsuit. Instead of villifying a group of innocent kids further, the members of your pool would be better served trying their best to make it up to the people you hurt out of carelessness and callousness, and making sure that it never occurs again.
But it's not something you'll have to worry about, as no black or Latino person is going to want to set foot near your pool for quite awhile to come.