60 Percent of Black Children Can’t Swim
| AR Articles on Racial Differences |
|---|
| Race and Psychopathic Personality (Jul. 2002) |
| Race and Teenage Pregnancy (Feb. 2002) |
| The Biological Reality of Race (Oct. 1999) |
| Why Race Matters (Oct. 1997) |
| Race and Health (May 1996) |
| A New Theory of Racial Differences (Dec. 1994) |
| Search AmRen.com for Racial Differences |
| More news stories on Racial Differences |
{snip}
Stark statistics underlie the initiative by the national governing body for swimming. Black children drown at a rate almost three times the overall rate. And less than 2 percent of USA Swimming’s nearly 252,000 members who swim competitively year-round are black.
USA Swimming is teaming with an array of partners—local governments, corporations, youth and ethnic organizations—to expand learn-to-swim programs across the United States, many of them targeted at inner-city minorities. One of the key participants is black freestyle star Cullen Jones, who hopes to boost his role-model status by winning a medal this summer at the Beijing Olympics.
{snip}
Study surveyed nearly 1,800 children
As part of the initiative, USA Swimming commissioned an ambitious study recently completed by five experts at the University of Memphis’ Department of Health and Sports Sciences. They surveyed 1,772 children aged 6 to 16 in six cities—two-thirds of them black or Hispanic—to gauge what factors contributed most to the minority swimming gap.
The study found that 31 percent of the white respondents could not swim safely, compared to 58 percent of the blacks. The non-swimming rate for Hispanic children was almost as high—56 percent—although more than twice as many Hispanics as blacks are now USA Swimming members.
The lead researcher, Professor Richard Irwin, said one key finding was the influence of parents’ attitudes and abilities. If a parent could not swim, as was far more likely in minority families than white families, or if the parent felt swimming was dangerous, then the child was far less likely to learn how to swim.
{snip}
Disparity has a long history
The minority swimming gap has deep roots in America’s racial history. For decades during the 20th century, many pools were segregated, and relatively few were built to serve black communities.
John Cruzat, USA Swimming’s diversity specialist, said these inequalities were compounded by a widespread misperception—fueled by flawed academic studies—that blacks’ swimming ability was compromised by an innate deficit of buoyancy.
{snip}
(Posted on May 2, 2008)
Comments
I learned to swim when I was 5 years old a the YMCA. It took me about 5 minutes to learn. But, I had a father.
Posted by Howard in Las Vegas at 6:31 PM on May 2
What’s the difference between a black man and a ship’s anchor?
Nothing.
Posted by Francis at 6:32 PM on May 2
This is a no-brainer.
A friend of mine teaches in an all-African high school in Country Club Hills, Illinois that used to be 100% White. In the halcyon days, the swimming pool was regularly used. Today, the pool isn’t used any more. Why? The present student body REFUSES to.
The instructor I know is an African and all he can do is throw up his hands when asked about the ‘problem’. “I tell them the world is 80% water and that’s why they should learn to swim,” he says, “but they will not get into the water. I can’t throw them in.”
Eventually the school administration gave up on coercing the untaught masses and now the dry, empty pool sits there, a monument to cultural diversity.
Posted by Annoyed In Illinois at 6:37 PM on May 2
…”gauge what factors contributed most to the minority swimming gap.”
Yet another national crisis. I blame racism, white supremacy, the legacy of slavery, and Jim Crow.
Something they might want to look into is the history of swimming in Africa. Was there any swimming culture that pre-existed slavery? The confirmation or absence of such activity might provide insightful. For all I know, swimming was invented in Africa and the white man stole it from the black man and to hide his crime against humanity, destroyed all their monumental swimming pools (along with their airship technology).
Posted by sbuffalonative at 6:41 PM on May 2
Having lived in Africa for 25 years, I can say that most blacks do not seem to want to swim. Why? perhaps an inbuilt fear of crocodiles or hippos, who knows. But it is a fact.
Posted by Brian Deller at 6:49 PM on May 2
“the swimming gap”
Oh give me a break already!
Posted by at 7:06 PM on May 2
My parents insisted my sister and I learn how to swim. As my mother said, “Swimming is something nobody can do for you.”
I learned how valuable that was in 1993. It startd raining hard here in Colorado Springs. I went out of my apartment to put the windows up in my RX-7. I stepped out into running water on the street to get at the driver’s side, and was swept off my feet. It didn’t look deep, but was moving very fast.
It was extremely frightening as I was swept across a field by the water and into the city’s storm drain system. I kept my arms around my head and my feet in front of me. During the straight stretches, I must have been going at traffic speed. I hit things, but feet first. Had I not been confident in water, I would have been killed. A few years ago, some boys here died in a similar incident, one boy trying to save his friend.
I hitchiked back home after getting out of Monument Creek well south of town. The rain had turned to hail, and enough of that had fallen that the city had front-loaders and dump trucks out in my neighborhood.
Blacks don’t float as well as whites, but I have too much muscle and bone and not enough fat, too, and I did more than OK at the age of 27. You wouldn’t be reading this if I had not.
When I got home, the first thing I did was take my shoes off, and the second thing I did was take a hot shower.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 7:09 PM on May 2
How does this 2% compare to the winter sports such as skiing? I ski a lot and it appears to me that there is even less diversity in the winter sports than in summer water sports. This 2% figure sounds like about the same percentage that visit the British Museum or the Met Opera House in NYC. All of these numbers are shcockingly low and cries out for govt intervention to more diversify these activities so they correctly reflect the populations of the US and the UK. Is affirmative action the only answer? Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Posted by Great White Observer at 7:13 PM on May 2
We have know for a long time….blacks make very poor swimmers…I think it’s in the genes….therefore….take them to the ocean and say…swim back to africa????? LOL
Posted by lydia at 7:19 PM on May 2
So it’s water’s fault. H2O itself is racist. Morris Dees should sue water for racial discrimination, and the U.S. Just-Us Department should get an injunction against it. Reminds me of the “dihydrogen monoxide” chain e-mails I used to get.
Posted by Question Diversity at 7:19 PM on May 2
When I was recently divorced I lived in an apartment complex that was about one quarter black. The black kids rarely came swimming and it was somewhat annoying since kids were always asking you if you could watch them. One afternoon I noticed that there were some girls who appeared to nearly be teenagers grabbed forcefully from the pool by their grandmother who screamed at them that they did not need to be at the pool since they could not swim. I think it is a good idea to teach all kids to swim although I do not like the “blame whitey” tone of this piece. Segregation of swimming pools ended more than a generation ago and this should no longer be an excuse.
Posted by Spartan24 at 7:36 PM on May 2
John Cruzat, USA Swimming’s diversity specialist, said these inequalities were compounded by a widespread misperception—fueled by flawed academic studies—that blacks’ swimming ability was compromised by an innate deficit of buoyancy.
So how exactly is this supposed to work in practice? Since the article isn’t talking about good vs. poor swimmers, but swimmers vs. non-swimmers, that must mean that Cruzat believes black parents are keeping their kids away from pools on the basis of findings in the academic literature. I can just see this now:
“Mama, can I go to the pool with Tyrell and Shaniqua?”
“Unh-uh, Deshawn, you know we black folks ain’t buoyant!”
Posted by at 7:45 PM on May 2
Pray for God to send another flood.
Posted by Xenophon at 7:45 PM on May 2
Being from a beach town, one can’t help noticing that you almost never see blacks in the water. They sure do like to hang out along the boardwalk though, playing rap music too loud, refusing to get out of the way and let people pass, throwing litter, and periodically getting handcuffed and led away to jail.
Blacks in the beach areas of my town are generally associated with home invasions and gang rather than with water sports.
One Thanksgiving Day several years ago, just for a lark I counted how many black people I saw as I walked a couple of miles to the pier and back. Out of several hundred people on the sand and in the surf, I saw four blacks. One was a middle-aged man who came into a gift shop and began bothering one of the female clerks, asking her for a date. When the manager told him to leave, he began screaming about PREEEEEJ-diss and re-SPEKKT!!! The cops came and escorted him away.
I wonder if he could swim. I wish the cops had thrown him in the ocean so we could have found out.
Posted by Kevin at 7:46 PM on May 2
Purely cultural. We’re all equal, after all. That’s what they told me in court-mandated diversity training, anyway.
Posted by at 8:14 PM on May 2
But I got news for you, white men CAN jump.
Posted by at 8:21 PM on May 2
a widespread misperception—fueled by flawed academic studies—that blacks’ swimming ability was compromised by an innate deficit of buoyancy.
Caused by denser muscles made up with more fast-twitch fiber, which enable them to run fast. How is this a misconception or flawed?
Just another scam to extract more tax-payer money to blacks under the guise of “diversity”.
Posted by at 8:21 PM on May 2
A swimming diversity specialist? I think I have heard it all now.
Posted by Spartan24 at 8:52 PM on May 2
“60 Percent of Black Children Can’t Swim”
Now we know how to get away from them.
Posted by wade in Mo at 8:59 PM on May 2
My parents insisted my sister and I learn how to swim. As my mother said, “Swimming is something nobody can do for you.”
I learned how valuable that was in 1993. It startd raining hard here in Colorado Springs. I went out of my apartment to put the windows up in my RX-7. I stepped out into running water on the street to get at the driver’s side, and was swept off my feet. It didn’t look deep, but was moving very fast.
It was extremely frightening as I was swept across a field by the water and into the city’s storm drain system. I kept my arms around my head and my feet in front of me. During the straight stretches, I must have been going at traffic speed. I hit things, but feet first. Had I not been confident in water, I would have been killed. A few years ago, some boys here died in a similar incident, one boy trying to save his friend.
I hitchiked back home after getting out of Monument Creek well south of town. The rain had turned to hail, and enough of that had fallen that the city had front-loaders and dump trucks out in my neighborhood.
Blacks don’t float as well as whites, but I have too much muscle and bone and not enough fat, too, and I did more than OK at the age of 27. You wouldn’t be reading this if I had not.
When I got home, the first thing I did was take my shoes off, and the second thing I did was take a hot shower.
Glad you’re okay!
Posted by at 9:02 PM on May 2
V-e-r-r-y interesting! Now what percentage of Black children have mathematical, reading and language skills ABOVE third-grade level?
I said “above,” which includes those vaunted junior high and high school Black “scholars.”
Posted by Fed Up at 9:23 PM on May 2
so what? I didn’t lern to swim until I was 13.
Posted by Rob at 9:27 PM on May 2
Blacks are scared of the water just like they’re scared of dogs. They keep angry Dobermans or other big scary dogs chained up, but they’re scared to death of dogs that aren’t theirs(or their own, also).
I lifeguarded in the summers in high school. Some people I went to school with could only get jobs at the public(black) pool in town. Those little blacks, all keyed up, would just jump in, not knowing what to do. All the lifeguards did was pull little black kids out of the water all day long. I bet those kids became scared of the water as they got older. (My brother was diving off of the high dive when he was four years old. We took swimming lessons from a lady in the neighborhood. Nothing special. But, our parents were involved.)
Posted by at 9:28 PM on May 2
Once, many years ago, I was walking at night on the beach when a Black girl ran up to me, beseeching me to protect her. Her pursuer had stopped a ways off, I assume to gauge the risk in confronting me. As I escorted the girl back to the pier, I wondered what I’d do if the frustrated beau charged us. I know that, unarmed, I am a poor fighter. I am slow moving, no sprinter at all, and the only way I ever won a fight was by wrestling, not punching. The girl’s date was a tall fellow, and all I could do for her would be to soil his fists with my blood. Then I thought of the ocean. I figured that I could drag the girl by the arm into the surf, where Romeo would no more follow me than would the Wicked Witch of the West. Fortunately, I was judged to be a greater threat than I was, and the girl never had to choose between a rapist and the surf.
Posted by Schoolteacher at 9:50 PM on May 2
Get a public pool, add a few white teenage girls in bikinis all staying in the deep end, making sure the only way to make contact with them is to swim and tread water and watch the fun begin as as blacks and browns swarm like flies to get to them. No CPR will be allowed.
Posted by at 10:05 PM on May 2
The fewer Blacks in the pool, the cleaner it will be. What’s the problem? Btw, that goes for the gene pool too.
Posted by Schoolteacher at 10:13 PM on May 2
The minority swimming gap has deep roots in America’s racial history. For decades during the 20th century, many pools were segregated, and relatively few were built to serve black communities.
Funny, but in Gary Indiana, public pool closings have been in the news many times. I suspect it’s not for lack of money, but lack of interest. The pools were there, they just weren’t patronized. And how long have the pools been desegregated anyway, so how can that still be used to explain lack of black interest in swimming?
Posted by Tim in Indiana at 10:36 PM on May 2
“As I escorted the girl back to the pier, I wondered what I’d do if the frustrated beau charged us.”
Snakes work. In high school during PE class I attempted to hand a small snake hidden in my hand to a black kid who promptly took off running and didn’t stop until he was about 100’ away. He never again came closer than 20’ from me unless he could see my hands.
Posted by at 11:32 PM on May 2
Swimming. It’s a white thing. You wouldn’t understand.
Posted by LOGIC at 11:37 PM on May 2
How about we all put our money together and fund a film “Black Men Can’t Swim”. We can even through White Men Can’t Jump just to smear it in Wesley Snipes’ face as he won’t be able to collect on it.
Posted by American Outside at 11:47 PM on May 2
That is one of the first things that came to mind, when the issued arose if there was maybe some sort of African attitude about swimming. Let’s be honest here folks……there are a lot of things in African waters that want to eat you. How can you blame them for not going for a dip?
I have a one black friend and one black aquaintance, neither one of them can swim, so I kind of wonder why that is.
Never thought about the Latinos much until one day I decided to try out the pool at my apartment, which I had never used before. Unfortunately there were so many Mexican kids in there, it had an oil slick on the surface, so that put an end to that idea!
Posted by at 12:53 AM on May 3
One of the few things I admire my father for is his going out into heavy surf off Maui to rescue another swimmer from a riptide. The guy was heading for rocks and in obvious distress, and my father went out and helped bring him back. I wouldn’t have believed it if I had not seen it.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 3:07 AM on May 3
As much as I hate it when Blacks come to our local pool. It is funny as hell to watch them try to swim as they just can not do it and they get angry because all the whites are doing laps and making it look easy.
They are good at standing in the waist deep water and throwing a ball at one another while annoying all the other people though.
Posted by John from Newcastle. at 4:29 AM on May 3
This is only a problem of People of Black Color. The South East Asians, People of Brown Color, here all swim well enough to enjoy themselves for a day at the beach.
Posted by Lost in Paradise at 6:02 AM on May 3
“USA Swimming’s diversity specialist”
Why the hell is there a Swimming diversity specialist?
Posted by at 6:30 AM on May 3
Way back when I was a boot in Parris Island, We had what was known as the combat swim. You had to swim from the deep end to the ropes, a distance of maybe thrity yards. You had your rifle slung, boots on, cartride belt, dungarees and helmut strapped on. They had all the White guys do the swim and I think we all made it. It was really hard and all you could do was dog paddle.
I’m a strong swimmer and I had a hard time. The dirty rats had us just jump into the pool from a standing position and our strapped helmuts almost tore our heads off.
After we were done the black guys went. Also, all the lifeguards got in the water at that time. They had the blacks jump in the pool three at a time and they went right to the bottom like stones thrown in the water. They didn’t even thrash around a bit, just went down. Of course, the lifeguards fished them out. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. One black just absolutely refused to go in the water. That was the end of him. They threw him out of the Corps for that.
I never forgot that. Interesting.
Tom Iron…
Posted by Tom Iron... at 7:57 AM on May 3
This thread seems to have a lot of anecdotes, so here’s mine.
A few years back a friend and his wife had moved into a pretty upscale McMansion development that had a great community center, complete with a gym, tennis and basketball courts, a playground, and of course, a pool. At the time, he was having his pool built on his lot, so one day we headed for a quick swim at the community pool.
We jumped in and were relaxing with just a few other people present when these two obese black women came strolling through the gate. Now mind you, this was a few years ago, when anyone could get into one of these neighborhoods, and let’s say he should have scouted out the area more thoroughly first, because there were more than a few “subprime” neighbors living there. (Today there are quite a few “For Sale” and “Short Sale” signs in the neighborhood, but I digress)
Anyway, one of the black females proceeds to get into the pool with “swimmies” on! You know, those blow-up floats that toddlers put around their arms to keep them afloat? I wasn’t sure how effective the swimmies would be considering her girth, but she waded in the shallow end anyway.
Occasionally I would catch her staring wearing a look of confusion as we and the other (White) people, including children, in pool dived in, treaded water, etc. Her expression reminded me of some pathetic street urchin staring through a window of a candy shop - on the outside looking in with envy.
The bright orange swimmies only added to the absurdity, and I’d say it would be a safe bet that they could be used as a metaphor for many of the other “flotation devices” she utilized in her daily life (such as affirmative action).
As far as black swimming skills go, I always thought the term “African Rockfish” said it all.
Posted by ZKR at 8:10 AM on May 3
Outstanding news! Clearly our ancestors knew what they were doing when they invested so much time, energy, and money into the construction of moats. Let’s start digging!
Posted by Visine at 9:29 AM on May 3
Crocodiles and hippos are not the only dangers in African waters. There are some really nasty diseases carried by water-borne parasites. These are related in alarming detail by Robert S. Desowitz in his entertaining books on tropical parasitic diseases.
Posted by at 9:52 AM on May 3
Schoolteacher…
It has been my experience that when I had to run, no matter how fast I ran, it was never fast enough…and this was when I outran them. Big time bad guys…not a track meet…he who runs away lives to fight another day…
Posted by at 10:16 AM on May 3
The non-swimming rate for Hispanics is at 56 percent? Could have fooled me! They certainly have no problems swimming across the Rio Grande!
Posted by Jackers at 11:05 AM on May 3
I am a member of the Mormon Church. I know the missionaries have great difficulty baptizing Black converts. The Church insists on total immersion, and Blacks fight it; as a result, the baptism often has to be repeated several times. Sometimes the convert will become angry and leave because he has seen Whites baptized on the first try.
Peace,
Allan
Posted by ALLAN at 11:17 AM on May 3
I live across the street from a now primarily black middle school. When the students are out for recess and it starts raining, they cover their heads and scream bloody murder! It’s not that they’re afraid of water, they just don’t like to get their “hair” wet because water will mess up all the braids, knots, cornrows, extensions and weaves. These people will take a day off from work or school to get their “hair” done - they obssess over it! But for some reason, they love water parks - go figure.
Posted by Gladys at 11:48 AM on May 3
I wonder if it is because they are worried that they will mess their hair up? Black hair takes a lot of work and chemical processes and pool water could mess that up severly.
Posted by Spartan24 at 12:14 PM on May 3
“I am a member of the Mormon Church. I know the missionaries have great difficulty baptizing Black converts. The Church insists on total immersion, and Blacks fight it; as a result, the baptism often has to be repeated several times. Sometimes the convert will become angry and leave because he has seen Whites baptized on the first try.”
Blacks will fight being pushed under. Have you tried holding them under for 3 or four min? Works for me everytime!
Posted by Gun Runner at 12:29 PM on May 3
Question Diversity wrote: So it’s water’s fault. H2O itself is racist. Morris Dees should sue water for racial discrimination, and the U.S. Just-Us Department should get an injunction against it. Reminds me of the “dihydrogen monoxide” chain e-mails I used to get.
Hey, there’s now an entire Web site devoted to the DMHO “controversy.” I wonder how many blacks (and eco-freaks) have fallen for it.
Posted by Strider at 2:58 PM on May 3
While athletically superior, blacks don’t have natural buoyancy. I really don’t care other than blacks complain how they are “discriminated against” in jobs such as the navy and coast guard, saying they are passed over for jobs as divers, SEALs etc. If they can’t swim and are naturally bad at it, they shouldn’t be allowed in; just as if they are too stupid and don’t have the intellect they shouldn’t be admitted to college.
George Manuelian
Atherton, CA
Posted by George Manuelian at 3:45 PM on May 3
I have known exactly one adult white guy in my life who couldn’t swim. His mother just refused to let him learn. His brother and I taught him one of my summers home from college, in the pool at my mother’s townhouse complex.
From swimming, one can progress to snorkeling, and thence to SCUBA. There’s nothing better than a technical dive on a historically-significant military wreck. The North Sea is very cold, but the bottom is clean and not silty. I’ve dived all four battlecruisers sunk at Jutland. As an aside, you would not beleive how completely destroyed HMS Invincible is. It’s amazing any of the poor men in her got out. The gunnery officer who sank her, von Paschen of SMS Lutzow (also sunk, but I think she might have been saved - the Germans gave up once the waterline foreward was at the lower edge of “B” turret) was later murdered by the Nazis for admitting he thought Germany would lose WW-2.
There are plenty of bad things in African rivers, mainly crocodiles, but South America has worse, and the Indians there don’t mind water. The candiru is particularly feared. It is a catfish built like a toothpick, and you don’t want to know what it does.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 5:04 PM on May 3
Yes, folks, quite a few blacks do seem to fear swimming.
Besides phobia, here is another possible explanation: For black women the way their hair looks is very important to them, and sadly many are rather insecure about it. They spend a lot of time and money coaxing their hair into the current Afro-American styles, either elaborate, stylized designs or the straight and shiny look. A quick swim would mean looking natural in front of their friends, and they don’t want that.
For the black men who shave their heads very short, since hair is not an issue, I bet many don’t swim because their heavy bones and muscles make them less buoyant and swimming is more of an ordeal than a fun pasttime. Just a guess.
Posted by at 5:42 PM on May 3
Paat. Nobody say that there’s a genetic disposition to reduced boyancy. Don’t say it. The PC thing to say is that Whites keep them down and prevent them from learning to swim.
Posted by at 5:51 PM on May 3
“What’s the difference between a black man and a ship’s anchor?”
The anchor doesn’t complain.
The anchor is quiet.
THe anchor has never been in prison.
The anchor is more conscious than the black man.
Posted by at 7:34 PM on May 3
Ther are biological differences - either bone or muscle density, as someone else mentioned. They’re simply less boyant. I think we can rule out any lack of natural athletic aptitude.
I would like to know what percentage of Navy Seals are black; not trainees, applicants, or wanna-bes, but actuals. Can’t find that info on the net. Does anyone know…?
Posted by WaitNow at 7:59 PM on May 3
I was always told they didn’t go to the beach or to swim outside because they didn’t want their skin to get darker.
Posted by at 8:22 PM on May 3
We live near the Pocono Mt. area of PA (which is across the Delaware River from NJ). Almost every summer there is a story in the local papers about how a visiting “youth” from New York City has drowned - usually in the Delaware River - while the family was having some kind of get-together.
The vast majority of these “youths” are not white - they are usually hispanic. Their own absence of good judgement plus the inability to swim does not deter them from venturing out into the water.
Ultimately, there is a frantic effort on the part of local rescue and diving teams to find the missing “youth” with a predictable result: a drowning.
Afterwards, the newspapers feature the usual statements from the bereived mother about her wonderful son but nowhere is there an expression of regret for not supervising the kid in the first place.
Anyone with an ounce of sense realizes that a river can be a tricky place to navigate - even for someone with basic swimming experience - and the Delaware is no different. After a heavy rain, the current is especially swift and unforgiving.
What I don’t understand is why these folks (who claim to be so family oriented) don’t do a better job in keeping their kids out of harm’s way. If little Miguel can’t swim - MAYBE it might be a good idea to have someone make sure he stays away from the riverbank in the first place.
Posted by Janelle at 9:26 PM on May 3
It may also have to do with the lack of subcutaneous body fat that Blacks posess, which allows them to sink like a rock. Whites evolved with the fat deposits under their skin to protect them from the colder climates where they lived, which as an added benefit also happened to help with water buoyancy. African regions did not need this quality to survive their hot environment. They needed dark skin and hair like a brillo pad to protect them from the intense sun. But it is still entertaining to watch Blacks try to swim. The opposite of a fish out of water is a Black in the water.
Posted by MC at 9:45 PM on May 3
the only time the white kids could get away from the blacks while attending public school in detroit was to swim to the deep area of the pool during swimming (gym class).
Posted by 1 of few in detroit at 9:51 PM on May 3
I was in a public swimming pool once. I was about seven years old. This big black teenager was WALKING BACKWARDS in the pool and collided into me. He didn’t stop, slow down, say sorry or even look to see if I was okay, just kept right on going like nothing had happened. Thankfully my brother who was about nine, came and helped me to see if I was alright (I later had a big bruise on my head from, I think, his elbow). I never forgot the incident because it was the VERY FIRST TIME I had ever even seen a black in my life. You see I am from Canada, (Toronto) and am old enough to remember how my country and city used to be, almost all-White with the VERY, VERY, OCCASIONAL Oriental and virtually ZERO blacks. But sadly it sure isn’t like that now. To say the least I found my first impression of the black race somewhat wanting. I still enjoy swimming, its magnificent exercise, but if I see even a handful of blacks in the pool I immediately leave.
Posted by at 12:31 AM on May 4
“Hair like a brillo pad to protect them from the intense sun.”
I’ve always thought of it that was as well. A sort of “grow your own hat” deal.
There is a reason why folks look the way they do. Epicanthic eyefolds in Asians have never been explained to me, however. My wife is curious about me, too, especially the way the rows of callouses on my palms seem to be growing together into something like hooves.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 12:45 AM on May 4
“‘The non-swimming rate for Hispanics is at 56 percent? Could have fooled me! They certainly have no problems swimming across the Rio Grande!”
Posted by Jackers at 11:05 AM on May 3
Isn’t the Rio Grande rather narrow and shallow. It probably doesn’t require much swimming ability.
In Philadelphia’s Northeast section there was a private swimming pool on Roosevelt Blvd. called the Boulevard Pools. There was a membership fee. There were few to no Blacks in that area of the cIty during the fifties and sixties. The NAACP of course could not abide any place that was exclusively White so the move to integrate the Pools began. The owners resisted for quite a while bit gradually had to relent and it wasn’t long after that the demise of the Blvd. Pools took place. It started in the ususal way with the characteristic anti-social behavior, assaults and intimidation of the Whites who, as a result, stopped going to the pool. Eventually it closed down as did the two major amusement parks in Philly, first Woodside Park and later Willow Grove Park. Woodside was in Fairmount Park and in the summer there was an open trolley car that people took to get there. Gradually people riding in the trolley were pelted with stones by the local tribesmen resulting in the ending of that amenity. Then the pushing and intimidation lead to the closing of the Park followed by the closing of Willow Grove.
Blacks seem to love playing the Dog in the Manger.
Posted by at 1:54 AM on May 4
“Having lived in Africa for 25 years, I can say that most blacks do not seem to want to swim. Why? perhaps an inbuilt fear of crocodiles or hippos, who knows.”
At least 600 million people are at risk of infection and 200 million are infected with schistosomiasis. An estimated 80% of transmission takes place in sub-Saharan Africa. The most common way of getting schistosomiasis in developing countries is by wading or swimming in lakes, ponds and other bodies of water.
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/diseases/schisto/en/
WHO | Water-related Diseases
Posted by at 4:49 AM on May 4
You all miss the point. Water cannot be shot, stabbed or robbed. Water does not take drugs, get grossly obese and join the police, nor is it ‘frightened’ by nooses although a life belt looks very much like a noose and it could be considered racist to throw one towards a drowning african. Water flows downhill and finds it’s own level despite an army of civil rights lawyers attempting to make it go the other way and against nature. People go ‘white water rafting’ which appears to be a lot of fun although I confess I have never tried it. I know that ‘black ice’ is dangerous to vehicle drivers as it lurks unseen along highways and often maims or kills. Water does not live off welfare for four generations and has played no part in the sub-prime mortgage fiasco. However, there is a worldwide shortage of safe drinking water, especially in africa, where there is a dire lack of unskilled labour to dig outdoor latrines to prevent the village population from using the local streams as toilets, as well as a handy place to drink, cook and wash stuff. However, there are lots of White college kids in the West who do their bit for humanity by flying to africa to dig latrines, although teaching the male beneficiaries to carry out this task is culturally impossible because ‘it’s women’s work’. So, water has a lot to answer for, and I just love the Irish folk song which includes the line ‘thank God for the water between England and me’. By the way, there is more water consumed by black inmates in prison than by Whites. I bet not many people know that.
Posted by yorkshireman at 9:25 AM on May 4
I was told by an Australian that Japanese and Chinese tourists in his country frequently drown because they are such poor swimmers.
Swimming is an important part of training for navy recruits.seeing as how there are many blacks and hispanics in the navy: they wouldn’t have graduated if they hadn’t learnt to swim a little.
then there’s preference: I’m white but I can’t play golf. I’m less interests in playing golf than weightlifting, jogging, and practicing martial arts. It doesn’t help that i can’t actually afford to play golf.
Posted by at 10:08 AM on May 4
and if 40% of kids CAN swim, then it is not like the entire black children can’t swim.
Posted by at 10:21 AM on May 4
“What I don’t understand is why these folks (who claim to be so family oriented) don’t do a better job in keeping their kids out of harm’s way. If little Miguel can’t swim - MAYBE it might be a good idea to have someone make sure he stays away from the riverbank in the first place.”
Posted by Janelle at 9:26 PM on May 3
Excellent post Janelle. I’ve notice a lot on AmRen how people are able to use small personal anecdotes to reveal larger racial realities, and her post is a great example of that.
Janelle is, of course, right: any parents who KNOW their children can’t swim should be keeping those children AWAY from bodies of water — especially rivers with strong currents! But the mestizos — just like Africans — remain resigned to a high mortality-rate that white people consider completely unacceptable.
Completely unacceptable because completely AVOIDABLE.
In the rainforests of Latin America — just as in the jungles of Africa — we see the same “logic” at work. If childhood diseases and malnutrition are killing off, say, 30% of their offspring before Kindergarten age, the solution for these people is NOT to search for a cure for these terrible maladies, but rather to MAKE MORE CHILDREN to replace the ones who died.
Someone on AmRen a few weeks ago gave another example of this “thinking” — which, interestingly, also has to do with WATER. It was about missionaries in Africa who attempted to teach the natives an EASY way to avoid being eaten by crocodiles while fetching their daily supply of H2O. The white do-gooders showed the blacks how, by lifting their water-vessel with a branch, they could still get their water while remaining safe and uneaten on the shore.
Simple, right? As basic toolmaking goes, it doesn’t get much more BASIC than that.
But the locals — despite losing a few members of their tribe to the crocs every year — weren’t much interested in the white man’s radical new branch technology; and couldn’t be bothered to adopt it. They continued wading into the croc pond with their clay pots, like always — and continued losing their body-parts and their lives to the slimy creatures with the big teeth. Like always.
To the tribe, these deaths weren’t considered a huge tragedy or even much of a problem — they were used to it. For them, it was just a manageable level of attrition. What we’d call “acceptable losses.” Or what retailers call “shrinkage”: just as shopkeepers reluctantly realize that some small percentage of their annual inventory will mysteriously yet inevitably “disappear” (due to shoplifting, damage, etc), pre-industrialized peoples simply accept that a certain fraction of their numbers will unavoidably bite the dust sometime before the next Moon Festival. It doesn’t seem to bother them. Certain members of the tribe might cry for the passing of “good ol’ Whatsisname” — especially if he’d been a good hunter — but the overall attitude seems to be that there’s “plenty more where he came from.”
I don’t want to say that these people don’t place the same value on human life that we do, but… um… er… I don’t know how else to finish that sentence.
So — rather than recognizing a problem and endeavoring to solve it — these people instead develop their fatalistic religions to rationalize it all: the death of little Miguel COULDN’T have been avoided; it was “the Will of the Great Spirit in the Sky” that he should be “called home” by the river; and so on, and so on.
BTW, an atavistic fear of crocs and other water-borne predators might go some distance toward explaining present-day African-American reluctance to swim.
Posted by The Incredible Shrinking White Man at 11:26 AM on May 4
I took swimming in high school and it was required for all the kids to learn how to swim and pass a swimming test. Most of the class was black and stood in the shallow end of the pool worrying about their hair.
The obese black woman in the “swimmies” really made my morning!
Posted by Spartan24 at 2:30 PM on May 4
IIRC blacks have less lung volume than whites which makes it harder for them to float. They also have muscles suitable for short bursts of strength, instead of medium-heavy load under long time, another minus for a swimmer.
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=470126
“… It has been known for some time that the vital capacity and forced expiratory volume in one second of black subjects are about 12% lower than those of whites of the same age and height.”
Posted by Information Insurgent at 2:55 PM on May 4
“I would like to know what percentage of Navy Seals are black; not trainees, applicants, or wanna-bes, but actuals. Can’t find that info on the net. Does anyone know…?”
I went through the Special Forces Medic course and during the first phase, there were 50 SEAL “pups” as they are called. They didn’t have their tridents but they had been through BUDS. Not surprisingly, there were zero blacks.
The great equalizer in the green beret course, and, for that matter, army special ops, is the swim test during which you have to swim 50 meters in boots and fatigues. The whiteness of army special ops is maintained indirectly by this test as they simply can’t find blacks who can pass it.
Posted by Earl K. at 4:20 PM on May 4
So…all of those “gated communities” should be surrounded by a moat, not a fence, to keep the burglars and rapists out? Or do I have it all wrong?
Gee, if my next house looks like something out of English history, at least I’ll know why.
Posted by Wild Eyed Charlie at 5:01 PM on May 4
MC,
I don’t know about their degree of subcutaneous fat, but Pacific islanders have lived in hot environments for thousands of years and they are among the world’s strongest swimmers. I’ve seen island kids as young as 8 years old, very lean ones too, out spearfishing and surfing in the deepest waters. Black kids in the Caribbean islands, descendants of Africans, also don’t seem to have much trouble learning to swim. I believe black Americans’ inability to swim is more of a psychological
Posted by at 6:15 PM on May 4
Imagine the National Track Association addressing “the sprinting gap” between whites and blacks. Is there any more proof that we are living in bizzaro world
Posted by White Superman at 10:03 PM on May 4
Posted by Wild Eyed Charlie at 5:01 PM on May 4
I agree sounds like a security marketing opportunity, the resurgence of the moat.
Posted by Gen X Whiteman in OZ at 12:09 AM on May 5
My grandfather cannot swim but his mother was so afraid of the water that she did not allow any of her children to even try to learn how to swim.
Posted by Spartan24 at 11:13 AM on May 5
A doctor I knew of once said that blacks find swimming difficult because they are so muscular and they have very little body fat. Its this fat which helps us float, so I suppose that could be a reason. Another is perhaps the Africans fear of snakes.
Posted by Arcadian at 12:30 PM on May 5
It’s true actually. When I joined the military at 18 right of high school they had a swim class, at least in the old days they did, where you lined up and jumped into this really deep pool. Most of the blacks sank to the bottom and most of the whites floated.
Then the instructors used these long poles to prod the blacks underwater until they grabbed the poles and pulled them up so they could get a breath and told them it would be in their best interest if they would begin to moving their arms and legs like we were doing unless they wanted to stay down there all day.
Those DIs back then were tough I tell you. The blacks did eventually learn to tread water and graduate bootcamp.
Posted by Unemployed WASP at 9:37 PM on May 5
My brother and I used to go to WhiteWater water park outside Atlanta. It was always funny to watch blacks put on their swimmies to get into the wave pool. Many were in their teens, too. Rarely would you see a teenaged white wearing swimmies.
Posted by Ryan at 6:36 AM on May 6
The multiculturalist lefties are busily crafting an excuse that blames this disparity on “white racism”.
Posted by Dave at 8:30 AM on May 6
Forget the gated communities and dig a moat!
Posted by Sensitivity Trainer at 6:43 PM on May 6
Xenophon - he did already. Unfortunately he made a promise not to do a worldwide one, and thus limited it to New Orleans. Hopefully he’ll be back for round 2 and then move on to other appropriate places.
Posted by Dark-Star at 5:29 PM on May 7
Concluding Moral:
Relocate Blacks in and around a major Metropolitan area surrounded by a great body of water and then artificially create a flood.
Oh, wait, they did that already in New Orleans.
Ok, then you can surround them with hundreds of thousands of Mexicans and simply run them out of town.
Oh, wait, they did that already in Los Angeles.
Ok, then, get one of them to run for President, build him up to an almost unbelievable degree and then knock him down, I mean, humiliate him, in proportion to the extent you built him up. Praise him to the skies and then simply turn that Ideal into its degraded opposite, so that no Black man will ever think twice about running for President, ever, again.
Oh, wait, they did that already with Obama.
Well, one thing’s for sure. The future is most definitely not looking very good for Black America. I wonder why. Geez, I mean, it couldn’t have been due to their out of control violence against just about everybody, and their obnoxious sense of entitlement, could it?
Posted by at 11:32 PM on May 7
Two Hispanics, who had skipped school, drowned crossing Lake Allatoona in GA today. The second tried to save the first. A third tried to save one, but had to let him go to save himself.
Posted by at 12:17 AM on May 10
That remind me of that guy fron Equatorial Guinea in the Olimpic games.Pretty funny to watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcb3YeZDmp0
Posted by at 2:12 PM on May 11
A black classmate at the US Naval Academy was not afraid of the water - he would jump into the pool and sink to the bottom and walk around down there, even with lungs full of air, to make us laugh. He had to exert great effort to swim back up to the top, and he was built like a body builder. There is a buoyancy issue. He seemed to think it was funny the white folks all floated and couldn’t walk on the bottom.
Posted by wc at 11:53 PM on May 13