bonfarr said:

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Swim lessons aren't hard. My grandfather taught me the same way he taught his Boston Terrier. Tossed me into his pool until I figured out how to get to the steps on my own.

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Not everyone's grandfather has a pool. Or a lakehouse.

bonfarr said:

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Ogre09 said:

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bonfarr said:

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Swim lessons aren't hard. My grandfather taught me the same way he taught his Boston Terrier. Tossed me into his pool until I figured out how to get to the steps on my own.

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Not everyone's grandfather has a pool.

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Every grandfather can find a pond or lake though or even a community pool.

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The sad reality is that there are a not insignificant number of kids growing up in some communities these days who do not know their fathers or grandfathers. Even for kids who do, sometimes they are not around either. One of my grandfathers was killed by a drunk driver before I was born and the other lived over a thousand miles away and died when I was 9 at the age of 92. The point isn't to make excuses for why some kids never learn how to swim. It is just explaining why there are differences in the statistics. The articles acting like it is some racist plot are wrong, but there are racial differences that are real and have reasons besides racism.

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The Red Cross and the Y will teach you to swim for nearly nothing, and they don't check a box for race.

Access to a public lake, YMCA, city pool, apartment complex pool etc doesn't cost a poor white kid less than it would cost a poor black kid.

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I attended two different high schools. One up north and one in West Texas. Both had indoor pools and swimming was a PE class. Would do the float test, treading water test and those who could not already swim were taken by another instructor to the shallow end to learn. The rest of us would do laps with the coach calling out different strokes to see which of us needed additional instruction to better our form.

The Hubs' nephew in Arkansas was a swimming phenom in junior and high school. We all thought he would want to be a Navy Seal when he decided to join the military but no. He was sick of swimming by that point and went Army.

Do schools not have pools anymore?

This. And while it isn't 1966 any more, in this particular topic there are still ripple effects from past racism going on for multiple generations.

Hardcore Greg said:

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Martin Q. Blank said:

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Nuke_Ag05 said:

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That article....

What does his death say about water safety for "black youth".....the **** does that even mean?

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It means most black youth can't swim and shouldn't be near water. Especially when drinking and trying to impress girls.

https://instagr.am/p/DZgL3SPudhF

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We used to see lots of teenage and young adult black men and women in the lazy river at Water World with floaties on. It was like 4 ft of water, max. I remember thinking it was a joke at first, but later I realized they genuinely probably didn't have the same evel of access to neighborhood pools that we had growing up.

Pick any body of water...the pool, the waterpark, the lake, the beach, the river...you will see far fewer than 13% black representation actually out in the water.

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My pool was Copano Bay and the Mission River

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Do schools not have pools anymore?

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They do but it's primarity for swim team, diving and water polo it seems. I never hear of swimming for PE

aggiehawg said:

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Do schools not have pools anymore?

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Not sure very many ever did. Very few have pools, I read that something like 5% to 10% have pools. but I bet the number is even less than that. Those folks that went to big schools in big cities might have seen a few schools with pools, but not see any in the smaller 1A to 4A schools. I know that none of the schools in my area have pools.

CanyonAg77 said:

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Vicksburg is pretty sad. First the Civil War, then a 1920s flood moved the river channel away from town

Our daughter was stationed in NE Mississippi. She said there was no middle class there. Everyone was either really rich, or really poor

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I've got family in NE Mississippi, Noxubee County. I grew up near Jackson. His family is one of the more well off families in the area but they'd be lower middle class in Texas. Before I had kids I would visit them annually so I've seen that state off and on for 30 years.

You get on a road between towns and there's a lot of beautiful country out there, but you get near the cities and it looks like a war zone.

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Half to three quarters of black guys couldnt even swim.
Ditto at Ft Riley summer ROTC camp. Black guys in my platoon had to go to remedial swimming in the evening or early morning hours.
Why? No access to pools, parents scared of water, interests in other sports or activities?

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I just wanted to underscore what several folks have said.

I was raised in a small town in NW Louisiana.

There was a very nice community pool that my friends and family went to all the time, but it was segregated. No blacks allowed. (Blacks also could not use the water fountains or rest rooms in the park.)

I understand the skepticism, but the issue of black people not swimming is something I understand from its origins in a segregated America.

Even as segregation died, a pattern was established.

The segregation is thankfully gone, but the effects continue to be felt.

So our depraved culture is going to turn this into a racial issue. Gotta love the modern world...

OldArmy71 said:

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Quote:

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Half to three quarters of black guys couldnt even swim.
Ditto at Ft Riley summer ROTC camp. Black guys in my platoon had to go to remedial swimming in the evening or early morning hours.
Why? No access to pools, parents scared of water, interests in other sports or activities?

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I just wanted to underscore what several folks have said.

I was raised in a small town in NW Louisiana.

There was a very nice community pool that my friends and family went to all the time, but it was segregated. No blacks allowed. (Blacks also could not use the water fountains or rest rooms in the park.)

I understand the skepticism, but the issue of black people not swimming is something I understand from its origins in a segregated America.

Even as segregation died, a pattern was established.

The segregation is thankfully gone, but the effects continue to be felt.

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Please! These are just excuses.

OldArmy71 said:

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Quote:

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Half to three quarters of black guys couldnt even swim.
Ditto at Ft Riley summer ROTC camp. Black guys in my platoon had to go to remedial swimming in the evening or early morning hours.
Why? No access to pools, parents scared of water, interests in other sports or activities?

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I just wanted to underscore what several folks have said.

I was raised in a small town in NW Louisiana.

There was a very nice community pool that my friends and family went to all the time, but it was segregated. No blacks allowed. (Blacks also could not use the water fountains or rest rooms in the park.)

I understand the skepticism, but the issue of black people not swimming is something I understand from its origins in a segregated America.

Even as segregation died, a pattern was established.

The segregation is thankfully gone, but the effects continue to be felt.

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What effects?

And segregation is not gone. It happens organically.

My parents grew up learning to swim in the 60s in their community pools. The black kids in their schools weren't allowed in. There was no swimmable free open bodies of water around them, just school and community pools.

My parents were intentional about getting their kids to learn to swim. Would they have been if they had never learned? I'm was intentional about getting my kids to learn to swim. Would I have been if I had never learned?

It has to start somewhere. But we're not that far removed from when there were not equal opportunities.

Ogre09 said:

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My parents grew up learning to swim in the 60s in their community pools. The black kids in their schools weren't allowed in. There was no swimmable free open bodies of water around them, just school and community pools.

My parents were intentional about getting their kids to learn to swim. Would they have been if they had never learned? I'm was intentional about getting my kids to learn to swim. Would I have been if I had never learned?

It has to start somewhere. But we're not that far removed from when there were not equal opportunities.

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That has no bearing on today and no indication in the 60s it was every black kid or even close to a large percentage.

bobbranco said:

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OldArmy71 said:

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Quote:

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Half to three quarters of black guys couldnt even swim.
Ditto at Ft Riley summer ROTC camp. Black guys in my platoon had to go to remedial swimming in the evening or early morning hours.
Why? No access to pools, parents scared of water, interests in other sports or activities?

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I just wanted to underscore what several folks have said.

I was raised in a small town in NW Louisiana.

There was a very nice community pool that my friends and family went to all the time, but it was segregated. No blacks allowed. (Blacks also could not use the water fountains or rest rooms in the park.)

I understand the skepticism, but the issue of black people not swimming is something I understand from its origins in a segregated America.

Even as segregation died, a pattern was established.

The segregation is thankfully gone, but the effects continue to be felt.

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What effects?

And segregation is not gone. It happens organically.

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Ogre09 said:

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This. And while it isn't 1966 any more, in this particular topic there are still ripple effects from past racism going on for multiple generations.

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Thats a myth.

Ogre09 said:

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bonfarr said:

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Swim lessons aren't hard. My grandfather taught me the same way he taught his Boston Terrier. Tossed me into his pool until I figured out how to get to the steps on my own.

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Not everyone's grandfather has a pool. Or a lakehouse.

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I learned to swim in Crane Texas in the 80s, the desert. We had white, latino and blacks. No one had a pool, lake, river, stream, and no racism detected.

Not to pile on the "learn to swim" discussion but has anyone ever met a Scout that couldn't swim? Parents that don't teach or provide their child the opportunity to learn to swim are putting their child's life in danger.

CheeseSndwch said:

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Not to pile on the "learn to swim" discussion but has anyone ever met a Scout that couldn't swim? Parents that don't teach or provide their child the opportunity to learn to swim are putting their child's life in danger.

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Scouts today are more worried about allowing trannies in and teaching everything they can not to go outdoors and see they world. Scouts have become a gender busting waste of time.

samurai_science said:

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Ogre09 said:

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bonfarr said:

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Swim lessons aren't hard. My grandfather taught me the same way he taught his Boston Terrier. Tossed me into his pool until I figured out how to get to the steps on my own.

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Not everyone's grandfather has a pool. Or a lakehouse.

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I learned to swim in Crane Texas in the 80s, the desert. We had white, latino and blacks. No one had a pool, lake, river, stream, and no racism detected.

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Ok, take the black and white out of it and change swimming to fishing. If you grew up in Galveston as a kid, and your parents liked to go fishing, guess what, you learned how to fish too and probably will pass that down to your kids. If you grew up in central Arizona where the nearest water body with fish in it was 30+ miles away and your parents did not like to go fishing, you probably never learned to fish or to appreciate going fishing, and as a consequence would be unlikely to pass it down to your kids, even if you moved to Galveston before becoming a parent. The opportunity would be there for your kids, but if it wasn't part of your experience or that of your parents growing up, it isn't something you are going to pass down to them.

Now think of the same concept, but with black people not having access to pools or swimming holes in the 50s and 60s. Even in the 70s and 80s when they were no longer forbidden from going to the pool, if it wasn't part of how they chose to recreate, then it probably wouldn't be for their kids either. It would take somebody else getting them into it for them to learn to swim. Nobody is saying that kids in Crane, Texas didn't have opportunities to swim if they were black in the 1980s. You are fighting a paper tiger because nobody is saying that same racism from the 50s and 60s is preventing kids today from learning to swim. But at the same time, the racism that happened in the 50s and 60s (and earlier) DID create several generations of black people for whom swimming just wasn't something they did, and so it was something that they didn't pass down to or prioritize for their kids, even if the opportunities were open to them now.

And nobody is making "excuses" for anything, it is just the reality of how it is. Kids of people who don't hunt or fish very rarely pick up hunting and fishing as a hobby unless somebody else gets them into it. Kids who don't learn how to swim when they are young very rarely pick up swimming as a hobby unless somebody else gets them into it later in life (which is rare).

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If you grew up in central Arizona West Texas where the nearest water body with fish in it was 30+ miles away and your parents did not like to go fishing, you probably never learned to fish or to appreciate going fishing, and as a consequence would be unlikely to pass it down to your kids, even if you moved to Galveston before becoming a parent.

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Don't forget a Grandparent's influence. Total credit to mine for making fishing a lifetime hobby!

austinAG90 said:

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CheeseSndwch said:

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Not to pile on the "learn to swim" discussion but has anyone ever met a Scout that couldn't swim? Parents that don't teach or provide their child the opportunity to learn to swim are putting their child's life in danger.

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Scouts today are more worried about allowing trannies in and teaching everything they can not to go outdoors and see they world. Scouts have become a gender busting waste of time.

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I haven't seen a Boy Scout troop in years. My son is 17 now and there was zero presence of scouting anywhere in our neighborhood or in his school.

Ogre09 said:

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My parents grew up learning to swim in the 60s in their community pools. The black kids in their schools weren't allowed in. There was no swimmable free open bodies of water around them, just school and community pools.

My parents were intentional about getting their kids to learn to swim. Would they have been if they had never learned? I'm was intentional about getting my kids to learn to swim. Would I have been if I had never learned?

It has to start somewhere. But we're not that far removed from when there were not equal opportunities.

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If by community pools, you mean city pools, they were most certainly allowed in. The civil rights act was passed in 1965. Pools were open to all.

My mom, who could not swim, sent me to the YMCA for free swimming lessons. The opportunities were and are there.

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If by community pools, you mean city pools, they were most certainly allowed in. The civil rights act was passed in 1965. Pools were open to all.

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Didn't Biden have a lifeguard at a majority black neighborhood pool story?

Oh yeah, he said the black kids used to play with his leg hairs in the pool.

aggiehawg said:

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If by community pools, you mean city pools, they were most certainly allowed in. The civil rights act was passed in 1965. Pools were open to all.

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Didn't Biden have a lifeguard at a majority black neighborhood pool story?

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Something about PopCorn and hairy legs...

Logos Stick said:

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Oh yeah, he said the black kids used to play with his leg hairs in the pool.

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And where he met Cornpop?

aggiehawg said:

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Quote:

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The Red Cross and the Y will teach you to swim for nearly nothing, and they don't check a box for race.

Access to a public lake, YMCA, city pool, apartment complex pool etc doesn't cost a poor white kid less than it would cost a poor black kid.

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I attended two different high schools. One up north and one in West Texas. Both had indoor pools and swimming was a PE class. Would do the float test, treading water test and those who could not already swim were taken by another instructor to the shallow end to learn. The rest of us would do laps with the coach calling out different strokes to see which of us needed additional instruction to better our form.

The Hubs' nephew in Arkansas was a swimming phenom in junior and high school. We all thought he would want to be a Navy Seal when he decided to join the military but no. He was sick of swimming by that point and went Army.

Do schools not have pools anymore?

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Most do, but few (if any) offer a generic PE class in swimming. Almost all of the pools are used for sporting events and swim meets. I can't imagine the insurance costs or liability that a school would be exposed to these days if they had a run of the mill PE coach trying to teach 30 idiot kids how to swim and one of them drowned.

We were just average growing up. We didn't have a pool, can't think of any of my friends growing up that had one either. But we had 2 public pools - indoor and outdoor. The outdoor even had a high dive. It was hella cheap to go to either one, and those are where I learned to swim.

My grandparents had a pool, but they lived 3 hours away and we went to their house 3-4 times a year, and two of them were in the winter when it was too cold to swim so we didn't get a real benefit from it.

All I had for summer entertainment during my younger years was our local city pool and Atlanta Braves baseball on TBS. I was crazy tan once school rolled around in September (back then it was after Labor Day).

flown-the-coop said:

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Black people cain't swim. Everyone knows that.

Seriously though, my statement is how the left / Hate America party believes.

They yell about stereotypes but apply them in the open.

There are not whites only life jackets, there are not whites only boating safety courses, there are not whites only swim lessons and being a dumb kid is not a whites only nor blacks only thing.

But who've wrote that article? They make David Duke seem tolerant.

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I know if I can't swim there is no way I'd be out in the Gulf w/o a jacket on the boat. I wouldn't go in a boat period w/o a jacket. But I'm an old.