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(UPI) Followup Swim club president clarifies racial misunderstanding. The issue is safety, not race; "Many of them couldn't swim." *facepalm*   (upi.com) divider line 288
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gulogulo 2009-07-10 06:42:41 PM  
WhyteRaven74: TSE: He saw a bunch of lawsuits come walking into his club and did what he thought he had to do.

Thing is, the club accepted the money from the camp. I highly doubt they weren't told upfront how many children would be showing up.


Good point. And he probably knew they were an inner-city mostly minority daycamp when he accepted their money. Why would he do that if he was racist? Why wouldn't he just try to turn them away with some bogus story in the first place about not having room?

 
HappyLittleTree 2009-07-10 06:43:02 PM  
gulogulo: HappyLittleTree: His public statements are not helping the case much. Someone get that guy a Twix.

His first public statement was highly truncated and one in which he admitted was a poor choice of words. Someone trying to hide their racism doesn't use words like "complexion." The rest of the story was a lot of "He said/she said" with no one substatiating it..just running with the story.

And what he said today? Forget the stereotype for a moment. Having been a camp counselor that had to use private swim club pools, it is a madhouse when you bring 60 campers in. If the majority are showing poor swimming skills how many life guards do you think you are going to need? After their first swim he realized that it was a bad idea and he didn't have teh support staff to watch all of them. That makes him a racist now? Or are you pushing his words into a racist context because that's the story that's selling now?


Wow. Take a deep breath, my friend. My comment was just a critique on his phrasing, which I why I implied that he "need[ed] a moment."

 
gulogulo 2009-07-10 06:43:59 PM  
HappyLittleTree: gulogulo: HappyLittleTree: His public statements are not helping the case much. Someone get that guy a Twix.

His first public statement was highly truncated and one in which he admitted was a poor choice of words. Someone trying to hide their racism doesn't use words like "complexion." The rest of the story was a lot of "He said/she said" with no one substatiating it..just running with the story.

And what he said today? Forget the stereotype for a moment. Having been a camp counselor that had to use private swim club pools, it is a madhouse when you bring 60 campers in. If the majority are showing poor swimming skills how many life guards do you think you are going to need? After their first swim he realized that it was a bad idea and he didn't have teh support staff to watch all of them. That makes him a racist now? Or are you pushing his words into a racist context because that's the story that's selling now?

Wow. Take a deep breath, my friend. My comment was just a critique on his phrasing, which I why I implied that he "need[ed] a moment."


Mea culpa. I am sorry.

 
quietwalker 2009-07-10 06:44:35 PM  
Hmm.

I have no idea what he meant by 'changing the complexion', even as a directly racist comment it doesn't ... make much sense. It would only be racist if you went into it believing it to be so already.

Perhaps the guy is just terrible speaker who was trying to use his word-of-the-day calendar to the utmost?

It's noted that it's a small pool, other large groups were canceled at the same time, and it doesn't seem to be racially motivated. Seems like some folks are trying to play the race card for some ulterior motive.

Though I will say this; in 4 years as a lifeguard for a large city pool, as a swim instructor for the deaf, blind, and mentally disabled (as well as a whole host of non-disabled kids), the only times I actually had to save anyone from a dangerous situation, they were always mexicans over the age of 20 who forgot they couldn't swim.

Dunno what that's worth though. Mexicans made up less than 1% of the population that used the pool; heck 20 year olds were less than 1% to start with. Still, 4 of them needed saving by me, and 2 more by another guard at different times.

Non-scientifically gathered info ...

 
elismom 2009-07-10 06:44:36 PM  
Doppleganger871 2009-07-10 06:30:21 PM
Ah, good 'ol Bruce Willis.

He's someone in Hollywood I'd actually invite into my house.


Because I'm sure all the movie stars in Hollywood are clamoring to get and invitation to your house.

 
allieloopy 2009-07-10 06:44:41 PM  
So the daycare center thinks it was an O.K. thing to bring 60 kids to one pool? I would have freaked out too. Split them up and bring them on different days. If my kids were being supervised at a pool I would expect at least 1 adult for every 5 kids or so. Tell me that they had 12 workers there.

Oh wait, this is Fark. I have to say something racist, Yeah, and the little nigglets were probably raising hell. There that's better.

 
Mongo cut wood 2009-07-10 06:46:04 PM  
He's an Obama supporter, so we should believe him. Nahhhhhh

Sarcasm: Cause having no black people in the pool makes the white people safe.

Voting Democrat is not a get out of being a racist free card. It just makes you a hypocrite.

 
Arklop 2009-07-10 06:48:46 PM  
wweinfo.files.wordpress.com

 
BunkyBrewman [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 06:49:15 PM  
As proud of I am of my City, there's always some asshat that farks it up.

 
TsukasaK [recently expired TotalFark] 2009-07-10 06:49:19 PM  
alonzinator: Duesler said his original comment was intended to detail how his site simply does not have an adequate number of lifeguards to properly supervise the visiting campers, the Inquirer reported.

"It was just too many kids on top of each other," said Duesler, whose Huntingdon Valley, Pa., club has been tabbed for a racial discrimination investigation by a state agency. "Many of them couldn't swim."

The comment can be read as, "There were too many kids and not enough lifeguards, therefore, many of them couldn't swim."

I guess Subby went to the FoxNews school of selective editing.


That being said... I swear the Add-art Add-on in FF is sentient.


THIS.

This is not a farking racial issue. Outrage is over. Last one out, turn off the lights and lock the door.

 
HappyLittleTree 2009-07-10 06:49:26 PM  
gulogulo

Heh, no worries. This is going to raise such a sh*t storm for him, and it would suck if the situation was really just a misunderstanding.

 
Krymson Tyde 2009-07-10 06:50:03 PM  
Shadow Blasko: sonder: Show me an inner city black kid that can swim.

G'head.


Idiot. That's a black guy high on crack who thought he was Black Superman and could fly. He fell to his death on the blacktop.

Check Snopes.

G'head.

 
Drubell 2009-07-10 06:51:54 PM  
"I swear, I don't see color! Although that might be because I make sure to keep it that way."

 
Rann Xerox 2009-07-10 06:52:37 PM  
FTA:"It was just too many kids on top of each other," said Duesler, whose Huntingdon Valley, Pa., club has been tabbed for a racial discrimination investigation by a state agency. "Many of them couldn't swim."

Somebody should check and see if this guy has Al Campanis' face tattoed somewhere on his body.

 
squeez cheez 2009-07-10 06:53:07 PM  
Would like a song...

www.filmdope.com

 
Spoonfed'sBuddy 2009-07-10 06:53:33 PM  
Blacks: if they're not drowning in your pool, they're accusing you of discrimination.

 
prickle27 [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 06:55:11 PM  
lh4.ggpht.com

 
WhyteRaven74 [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 06:55:24 PM  
gulogulo: Why wouldn't he just try to turn them away with some bogus story in the first place about not having room?

It wouldn't even need to be bogus, just say it's more kids than he feels they can safely handle. As it is, I suspect it's not so much him, though he's not exactly helping things, as it was some of the members complaining.

 
WhyteRaven74 [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 06:56:17 PM  
Rann Xerox: Somebody should check and see if this guy has Al Campanis' face tattoed somewhere on his body.

Niiiice!

/for you youngsters, go to wiki and look up Al Campanis

 
Jument 2009-07-10 06:58:11 PM  
vartian: Someone needs to tell this guy to shut the fark up.

No, don't! This is turning into a fabulous trainwreck!

 
SeamusFerrell 2009-07-10 06:59:07 PM  
IL has a law requiring mandatory swim class for high schools. I think there are exceptions if your school doesn't have a pool or something. We had to do a lap walking around the pool looking for bodies. The coach said, "Pay attention to the lane divider lines. There might be some black kids hiding there."

But yeah, none of the black kids knew how to swim.

 
drjekel_mrhyde 2009-07-10 06:59:16 PM  
sonder: Show me an inner city black kid that can swim.

G'head.

My daughter and her black friends
/Maybe it's because they go to a Oak Park school instead of Chicago

 
Alleyoop 2009-07-10 06:59:19 PM  
In the interviews, both the day-care workers and the kids said they were playing when "something happened" and the next thing they know they're being told to leave. What was that "something" that caused management to make them leave? They never said.

The daycare worker also said that the kids came "running up to her" after this "something" happened. Hmmm.

tbn1.google.com

 
Burning_Monk 2009-07-10 06:59:42 PM  
WhyteRaven74: Rann Xerox: Somebody should check and see if this guy has Al Campanis' face tattoed somewhere on his body.

Niiiice!

/for you youngsters, go to wiki and look up Al Campanis


Reminds me of Marge Schott.

 
serial_crusher [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 06:59:44 PM  
WaltzingMathilda: SushiJoe: it's a pool, not an ice skating rink. The owner should get his stereotypes right.

you've never heard the blacks can't swim stereotype?


I think it's a corollary to Rule 34 that, if you say anything that might be construed as negative about a person who happens to be black, there is a well known racist stereotype for whatever negative thing you said.

Example: Lance Armstrong could probably beat Tiger Woods in a bike race.
What, you didn't know that black people are stereotypically bad at bicycling?

 
heyheyjerky 2009-07-10 07:00:20 PM  
blah blah blah.. no one is racist until all these kids come to their pool....

on our town/high school team we had a black swimmer and he was damn good.

 
The Billdozer 2009-07-10 07:00:51 PM  
If this guy keeps it up he is going to be the Harbinger of Lulzageddon.

 
lordaction 2009-07-10 07:01:03 PM  
I'll bet that guy is sweating like a slave right now. How could he be so stupid?

 
drjekel_mrhyde 2009-07-10 07:02:13 PM  
SeamusFerrell: IL has a law requiring mandatory swim class for high schools. I think there are exceptions if your school doesn't have a pool or something. We had to do a lap walking around the pool looking for bodies. The coach said, "Pay attention to the lane divider lines. There might be some black kids hiding there."

But yeah, none of the black kids knew how to swim.


What school did you go to
/Whitney Young
//Swimming was best when helping chicks out the pool

 
DarkAvised [recently expired TotalFark] 2009-07-10 07:02:32 PM  
Damn those racist Southern Rednecks. How dare they.

Seems a lot of this thread is saying "Don't stereotype." A sentiment with which I entirely agree. But really, how often do we farkers stereotype the South?

And shame on you Philadelphia -- trying to take the Brother out of they City of Brotherly Love.

 
Roook [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 07:03:29 PM  
I haven't seen anyone be this stupid in a coon's age

 
I banged your sister 2009-07-10 07:05:11 PM  
Conservationist: Maybe they just didn't want "We've been told to only hire minorities.' and "This is a black world".

Funny how people are acting like this story is so important, but then the story you linked never got any attention. Poor black kids didn't get to swim, boohoo. White family gets their asses beat, who cares. I can identify with that family. This shiat happens a lot in Columbus as well.

 
logruszed 2009-07-10 07:05:23 PM  
vabeard: Is this story going to be dragged out everyday?


/move on, people.


FARK might not be the right place for you.

 
DarthBrooks [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 07:07:17 PM  
He was just worried about their curved thighbones not being able to kick hard enough to stay above the waterline.

www.findagrave.com

Ain't that right, Jimmy?

 
Pyynk 2009-07-10 07:07:24 PM  
Radio Boy: I worked in a water park in NJ.

Every 4th of July we would get people from Brooklyn, Bayonne, Edison, Elizabeth, etc, who had never been in a pool in their lives.

This didn't stop them from going on the big slide that dropped you in a 10 foot deep pool.

If you worked that pool, you just stayed in the water all day.


Action Park?

/even if it wasn't, I'm going to pretend it was
//slashy slashy!

 
WhyteRaven74 [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 07:07:37 PM  
Burning_Monk: Reminds me of Marge Schott.

Schott was worse since she owned a team and was known for being a nutbar even before she went off the deep end. Or rather it came out how far off the deep end she was.

drjekel_mrhyde: /Maybe it's because they go to a Oak Park school instead of Chicago

Ohh burrrnnnnn.

/grew up in Cicero

/Whitney Young

shiat and I went to high school just a hop skip and a step away

/Ignatius

 
calbert [recently expired TotalFark] 2009-07-10 07:07:49 PM  
farm4.static.flickr.com

/maybe the pool just needed a better sign?

 
Magorn 2009-07-10 07:08:03 PM  
Spike Lee's Favorite Farker: PC LOAD LETTER: "Darkies don't know how to behave, and when they pretend to behave, they get all uppity. This is why we have to take a hard line with these types. They don't even know how to act in a pool. Do you blame us for not wanting them around? I mean look at them!"

Dude,

These are children you are talking about here. Tar Babies is the preferred nomenclature.


you really need to get with the times, they prefer to be called "pickaninny-Americans" now

 
ez-reader 2009-07-10 07:08:43 PM  
Exactly at what point did this guy start returning checks? All at the same time? before this group showed up? One at a time after each group showed up the first time?

Here's another angle -- maybe they try sneaking in extra members every year hoping the regular members will not notice the pool is slightly more crowded than what they had expected.

Another less sinister angle -- the guy just doesn't know how to run a swim club. The more he opens his mouth, the more I am inclined to believe this one.

 
eraser8 2009-07-10 07:09:44 PM  
gulogulo: And he probably knew they were an inner-city mostly minority daycamp when he accepted their money. Why would he do that if he was racist?

The club president is inept...but the jury is out on whether he's racist. If there's racism afoot, I suspect it's coming from the club membership rather than from the administration.

 
WhyteRaven74 [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 07:09:51 PM  
ez-reader: The more he opens his mouth, the more I am inclined to believe this one.

So he's the Sarah Palin of swim club presidents?

/yeah I went there

 
Krymson Tyde 2009-07-10 07:11:17 PM  
Roook: I haven't seen anyone be this stupid in a coon's age

i24.photobucket.com

 
DarthBrooks [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 07:13:19 PM  
ez-reader: Exactly at what point did this guy start returning checks? All at the same time? before this group showed up? One at a time after each group showed up the first time?

Here's another angle -- maybe they try sneaking in extra members every year hoping the regular members will not notice the pool is slightly more crowded than what they had expected.

Another less sinister angle -- the guy just doesn't know how to run a swim club. The more he opens his mouth, the more I am inclined to believe this one.


I used to work in the bartending / banquet business in Philly.

It's a law of nature with golf courses, country clubs and swim clubs: the General Managers are phenomenal in their ability to say JUST the wrong thing to news media when Something Bad Happens.

 
rewind2846 2009-07-10 07:13:23 PM  
I'm taking bets on just how far this moran can put his foot up his own ass. Looks like the kneecap just went in...

 
eraser8 2009-07-10 07:13:32 PM  
WhyteRaven74: So he's the Sarah Palin of swim club presidents?

No wonder all the racists and crypto-racists are defending him.

 
calbert [recently expired TotalFark] 2009-07-10 07:15:16 PM  
afrojacks.com

/swimmin wif my riches

 
JonnyBGoode 2009-07-10 07:15:19 PM  
Krymson Tyde: Roook: I haven't seen anyone be this stupid in a coon's age

He was just callin' a spade a spade...

 
aerojockey [TotalFark] 2009-07-10 07:15:40 PM  
calbert

Ha, I always smile whenever I drive past that sign.

 
GoodasGold 2009-07-10 07:15:57 PM  
I think we will find out there is more to the story. Just like Twana Brawley and Duke LaCrosse. Life isn't like the movies where whites are often evil racists and blacks are innocent, noble victims.

 
Lumoclear 2009-07-10 07:15:58 PM  
DAMMIT! Don't they know that the first rule of Swim Club is not to talk about Swim Club?!?!?

 
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