Of course the black kids can't swim.. the swim club won't let them in the pool.

\why do I come to these race-bait threads?I
\\I hate you all

maybe if the black parents will realize their children need to act more white

/ welcome to the real world kids

dervish16108: Any threads on freerepublic.com defending this?

I'll check.

Link (new window)
106 comments
Begins with shocked responses that something like this could actually happen in 2009. Then there were a bunch of posts doubting that this was the whole story. There were 10 posts wondering if the kids were behaving badly. There was one poster who was quite racist, named "Bon Mots", who posted:

"Flame me for pointing it out, but groups of black children behave differently than groups of white children.

How many of the white people on this forum who are aghast at this send their kids to majority black schools?"

Then, there were posts calling "Bon Mots" racist and demanding he be banned. Then he defended himself. Then more people shocked that something like this could occur in this day and age. Then off-topic posts. Then posts saying that Philly is a pretty racist place. Then posts saying the whole northeast is racist. Then posts saying liberals are usually more racist than conservatives. Then posts about how the swim club president was an Obama supporter. Then other stuff.

I hate to say it, but there is some truth to all these jokes.
I worked as a life guard at a very small pool for 6 years, and that whole time I only had to save 11 kids- 7 of them on the same day. There was an after school program for African American kids around the ages of 6-12 who came one afternoon for a party. Less then half the kids could swim, and yet they continued to jump off the diving boards into the deep end. We asked the counselors several times to keep the kids who can't swim off the boards and we were accused to being racist. They refused to make the kids use flotation devices so me along with 3 other life guards had to keep watch over 30+ kids PLUS the regular members of the pool. It was a NIGHTMARE, and in the end we asked them to use another pool and they pulled the racist card.
It's very hard for lifeguards to watch that many people. I really don't think this particular incident is one of racism. If they were racist they wouldn't have accepted the money from the daycare center in the first place. I just think this is a stupid man who needs to stop talking because he obviously is not good with PR.

fark is farking slackin'.

Southern black/white/brown/yellow/red country kids can swim 'cause they learn in ponds, lakes, and some in rivers....guess now ya know what her and Billy Joe was throwin off the tallahachie bridge huh?
We never even learned about how you are supposed to stay with you'r own color group till it was too late to teach us.
Nobody ever told us about lifeguards and stuff like that.
When we moved to the city the two lifeguards at the huge pool never dived in to save anybody, they just blew thier whistles and pointed, everybody knew you didn't want to make him have to take a break from flexing, or actually get wet, meaning he'd have to re-apply his suntan oil....hell, he'da drowned you himself.

vertiaset: John Duesler, club president having dinner at home.

My apologies to the African Americans in Farkistan. I know racism is alive and well. Thank God, we have reached the stage when we can look back with bemused detachment at the type of racism which was so prevalent in our country just a generation or two ago. Now if we can only keep moving forward to the point where we never have to read a story like this again.

quit stealin' my shiat, fool.

Sorry, i meant quit stealin' my photos fool.

No doubt something like this has been posted, but:

"The fatal drowning rate of African American children ages 5 to 14 is 3.2 times that of white children in the same age range."

http://www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/Water-Safety/waterinjuries-factshe e t.htm

Duesler said many of the kids could not swim. There is very little doubt he was correct.

Pezfel: When we had camps from more affluent families we did not have as many lifeguards on duty. Is that considered racist?

Of course - it's like you are saying it's OK if white people drown.

Trust fund babies are people, too, if only slightly.

Apparently playing the race card from the bottom of the deck still works.

I was a lifeguard in high school. My training manual listed various "vulnerable" groups of people to pay special attention to as drowning risks. Among the people who the manual said were most at risk were infants, the elderly, racial minorities, especially blacks, the physically disabled and mentally handicapped.

I've always been kind of torn about that. On one hand, it is blatant racial profiling. On the other hand, they're probably correct that a greater percentage of minorities are weak swimmers, if for no other reason than they are less likely to have pools in their communities. If a greater level of attention could increase our ability to save them, without disadvantaging them at all, is it bad?

Of course, what these douche nozzles did is inexcusable, and the head douche nozzle's apology is worthless. Its hard to argue for ambiguity when the plain meaning of your words is so astoundingly clear, and astoundingly racist.

Nuuu: I was a lifeguard in high school. My training manual listed various "vulnerable" groups of people to pay special attention to as drowning risks. Among the people who the manual said were most at risk were infants, the elderly, racial minorities, especially blacks, the physically disabled and mentally handicapped.

I've always been kind of torn about that. On one hand, it is blatant racial profiling. On the other hand, they're probably correct that a greater percentage of minorities are weak swimmers, if for no other reason than they are less likely to have pools in their communities. If a greater level of attention could increase our ability to save them, without disadvantaging them at all, is it bad?

Of course, what these douche nozzles did is inexcusable, and the head douche nozzle's apology is worthless. Its hard to argue for ambiguity when the plain meaning of your words is so astoundingly clear, and astoundingly racist.

...and of course our benevolent media has never been known to twist words and use them out of context for the sake of sensationalism. *rolleyes*

Presumption of innocence? Anyone? Anyone? Oh, and btw... if this is a private club they can flat out refuse entry to ANYONE and there's no law against it. That's what NAACP and office of Human Relations are currently investigating.

BTW, the comment about kids being rowdy - 100% true. Take a group of kids in our pool - white kids splash, play, yada yada. No excessive screaming and generally well behaved. At least they stop running when life guard tells them to. Black kids? Complete opposite and when lifeguard tells them to stop running they either ignore him or just go "pppffffshhhhtttt... you ain't my daddy". At that point I want to AXE that bright young lad and future dweller of some state incarceration facility nearby whether he even knows who "he daddy is" but I already know what Tyrone will say.

Yes, I deeeed go there gurrrlfriend. Hummm Hmmm. *zorro finger snap*

Say what you will but stereotypes DO PLAY OUT. Accept it - it's ok. Don't carry all that white guilt inside, let it out.

Sym_pathetic: He meant because they were kids, and the shallow end of the pool wasn't big enough for the quantity of children.

But you all are right. He's a racist.

this may be true...still a semantic fail

(when you need to make a public statement following an initial statement that was either racist or misunderstood- you write it down- you then carefully read it for clarity and possibilities for misreading...and then you read it again...just saying)

Definitely a poor choice of words.

I can see how complexion could possibly refer to the ratio of swimming-able versus accident-hazard in light of the staffing is sort of what he remembers.

No doubt in my mind the situation is just ridiculous and sort of sad, and people should move on. Perhaps to another pool. Then interview the next pool-steward-ass-on-the-line person for their politically correct opinion of the happenings.

Hell, the only reason I'm not surprised journalists and bloggers can actually spell complexion is because they either used Microsoft/Firefox that corrected it for them, or they simply copy+pasted what they were going to rant on for a while.

/signal to noise and all that

OK, I admit that when I said "I hate black people", that was a poor choice of words! But all I meant was that black people are inferior! So we're cool now, right?

cynep: ...and of course our benevolent media has never been known to twist words and use them out of context for the sake of sensationalism. *rolleyes*

Presumption of innocence? Anyone? Anyone? Oh, and btw... if this is a private club they can flat out refuse entry to ANYONE and there's no law against it. That's what NAACP and office of Human Relations are currently investigating.

BTW, the comment about kids being rowdy - 100% true. Take a group of kids in our pool - white kids splash, play, yada yada. No excessive screaming and generally well behaved. At least they stop running when life guard tells them to. Black kids? Complete opposite and when lifeguard tells them to stop running they either ignore him or just go "pppffffshhhhtttt... you ain't my daddy". At that point I want to AXE that bright young lad and future dweller of some state incarceration facility nearby whether he even knows who "he daddy is" but I already know what Tyrone will say.

Yes, I deeeed go there gurrrlfriend. Hummm Hmmm. *zorro finger snap*

Say what you will but stereotypes DO PLAY OUT. Accept it - it's ok. Don't carry all that white guilt inside, let it out.

One of the things I've always liked about race debates is, even though I'm never likely to change anyone's mind in any meaningful way, these debates give me a chance to mark out who the racists are so that I don't have to waste any more of my time on them. Its the next best thing to simply asking for a show of hands as to who is a bigot.

They're going to have a tough time proving racism with this one. Safety trumps butthurt, every time.

It's a terrible tragedy when 4 people lose their lives in a quick chain of events that just compounds the sorrow. I truly believe this. But there was a lot of absolutely batshiat crazy dialog following this event (new window) which, to me, detracted from the severity and sad lesson to tell in story form. You know, even beautiful and neat things can be dangerous...part of the 'scare your kids straight with reality' dialog that some parents may need. Swimming is great, but a cramp, undertow, or ignorance can be fatal.

gopher321: Mudflap and Skids approve.

Muffy and Skippy don't, however.

There is no more racism.

We have a black president.

/Thread over.

Nuuu: cynep: ...and of course our benevolent media has never been known to twist words and use them out of context for the sake of sensationalism. *rolleyes*

Presumption of innocence? Anyone? Anyone? Oh, and btw... if this is a private club they can flat out refuse entry to ANYONE and there's no law against it. That's what NAACP and office of Human Relations are currently investigating.

BTW, the comment about kids being rowdy - 100% true. Take a group of kids in our pool - white kids splash, play, yada yada. No excessive screaming and generally well behaved. At least they stop running when life guard tells them to. Black kids? Complete opposite and when lifeguard tells them to stop running they either ignore him or just go "pppffffshhhhtttt... you ain't my daddy". At that point I want to AXE that bright young lad and future dweller of some state incarceration facility nearby whether he even knows who "he daddy is" but I already know what Tyrone will say.

Yes, I deeeed go there gurrrlfriend. Hummm Hmmm. *zorro finger snap*

Say what you will but stereotypes DO PLAY OUT. Accept it - it's ok. Don't carry all that white guilt inside, let it out.

One of the things I've always liked about race debates is, even though I'm never likely to change anyone's mind in any meaningful way, these debates give me a chance to mark out who the racists are so that I don't have to waste any more of my time on them. Its the next best thing to simply asking for a show of hands as to who is a bigot.

I read you loud and clear: "I got nuttin. So I'll just call you a biggot". Roger that.

Blowmonkey: Seriously, just like with Mel Gibson and other racists, what slips is only what you're thinking anyway, if you're not racist that shiat isn't there to accidentally fall out.

Evelyone's a rittle bit lacist.

You want to see real racism? Go see some footie matches in Europe, where they throw bananas on the field when African teams play.

Shadow Blasko: sonder: Show me an inner city black kid that can swim.

G'head.

Jesus christ that guy is hardcore! He's swimming in the farking air!

syrynxx: I think this is the most racist thread I've ever read on Fark.

Don't spend much time in the Obama threads, eh?

Oh, I get it now....


Changing the complexion of the pool = safety issue because a lot of the kids couldn't swim


Well...That pretty much answers all my questions! Sorry for the misunderstanding.


//club manager's excuse is pathetic

jehovahs witness protection: Good thing he didn't have a monkey named Obama. He'd really be screwed then.

Oh, and I suppose you're going to get all huffy at me for naming MY monkey Hussein, which I did WELL before this guy got elected president.

Well, you wouldn't be the first. What is it with people???

Drunk like the rest of you on a friday night and didn't read the entire thread...
So, just in case this hasn't been posted yet


Copy and paste
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFk5tsVKBWc

I'm sure he just needed time to cut up all the soda can rings so they wouldn't get stuck in the campers' blow holes.

Jormungandr: Shadow Blasko: sonder: Show me an inner city black kid that can swim.

G'head.

Jesus christ that guy is hardcore! He's swimming in the farking air!

I laughed at that comment till my ribs hurt and I'm still laughing.
Thank Mang, I needed dat!

hicksfa2: Oh, I get it now....


Changing the complexion of the pool = safety issue because a lot of the kids couldn't swim


Well...That pretty much answers all my questions! Sorry for the misunderstanding.


//club manager's excuse is pathetic

Sure, it's still pathetic, but so is the typical use of the language we call English here in the United States. The fact that he used a three syllable word is inexcusable. What do you mean 'misunderstanding'? I object to your racially insensitive ability to understand the situation. Why did you have questions in the first place? I can't believe your off the cuff remarks could be so shallow. Get it? GET IT? Didn't think so.

/You people are, for the most part, terrible with my language and I would like to kick you out of the writing pool for a multitude of reasons, mostly because you consistently drown in poor performance
//antidisetablishmentarianism

OK, I just did a CTRL +F on this page, and nowhere, not once until this post, has the word "Jew" shown up.

Which proves one thing: All you hundreds of posters here have no clue, nada, of what the Valley Club is, and what its infamous "complexion" is. I have a local connection in the very near neighborhood, and I have spent a lot of time in Huntingdon Valley, so I speak from experience.

I am pretty sure that all of you are assuming that this is a case of W.A.S.P/KKK-ish racism getting exposed. I can assure you, from what I know of the area, and what I have heard from my contacts who actually know this club, that that is NOT the case. It is a case of predominantly Jewish-background clientele's Afro-phobia on display.

Remember this: The mainstream media, even in a sad and sensational story of real live racist exclusiveness in this day and age, will still NEVER present the whole truth to you. It is still too politically incorrect for them to handle! It suits them better to frame the story in such a way that you assume that WASP-ish whites are the perpetrators, and that is done at the expense of the truth.

/Lift the gauze, people.

I'm black and I can't swim, so I'm getting a kick outta these replies.

/i wish i could swim
//deathly afraid of drowning
///i go no further than five feet

Hey I dont swim in you toilet so dont put them in my pool

vertiaset: syrynxx

I think this is the most racist thread I've ever read on Fark.

aerojockey: So this the thread where all us white Farkers bring out the racist jokes they've been collecting, because we can just say "this is the kind of joke this asshat would have made". I mean, we'd never make these jokes ourselves or anything.

That seems to have nailed it.


Maybe so, but humor and especially mocking ridicule are good ways to show up the ignorant, the racist and the small minded. So, lighten up a little and enjoy the show.

---------------


Racist or not...you do have to admit that there is humor here.



The way I see it you are only a racist if you make strides to limit based on these differences...not simply recognize them. Skin color is, like it a not, a pretty reliable indicator of past cultural influence here in America. Nothing will be accomplished by ignoring that fact. Making judgement or decisions limiting the ability of that person is where it crosses the line

cynep: Nuuu: I was a lifeguard in high school. My training manual listed various "vulnerable" groups of people to pay special attention to as drowning risks. Among the people who the manual said were most at risk were infants, the elderly, racial minorities, especially blacks, the physically disabled and mentally handicapped.

I've always been kind of torn about that. On one hand, it is blatant racial profiling. On the other hand, they're probably correct that a greater percentage of minorities are weak swimmers, if for no other reason than they are less likely to have pools in their communities. If a greater level of attention could increase our ability to save them, without disadvantaging them at all, is it bad?

Of course, what these douche nozzles did is inexcusable, and the head douche nozzle's apology is worthless. Its hard to argue for ambiguity when the plain meaning of your words is so astoundingly clear, and astoundingly racist.

...and of course our benevolent media has never been known to twist words and use them out of context for the sake of sensationalism. *rolleyes*

Presumption of innocence? Anyone? Anyone? Oh, and btw... if this is a private club they can flat out refuse entry to ANYONE and there's no law against it. That's what NAACP and office of Human Relations are currently investigating.

BTW, the comment about kids being rowdy - 100% true. Take a group of kids in our pool - white kids splash, play, yada yada. No excessive screaming and generally well behaved. At least they stop running when life guard tells them to. Black kids? Complete opposite and when lifeguard tells them to stop running they either ignore him or just go "pppffffshhhhtttt... you ain't my daddy". At that point I want to AXE that bright young lad and future dweller of some state incarceration facility nearby whether he even knows who "he daddy is" but I already know what Tyrone will say.

Yes, I deeeed go there gurrrlfriend. Hummm Hmmm. *zorro finger snap*

Say what you will but stereotypes DO PLAY OUT. Accept it - it's ok. Don't carry all that white guilt inside, let it out.

What will Tyrone say?

/blacks can't swim
//is it a stereotype if it's true?

CigaretteSmokingMan: No wonder. It's landlocked.

Look, there's a little pond down there near Tchad!

Who says black people don't belong in the water?

Your Favorite Token Black Chick: I'm black and I can't swim, so I'm getting a kick outta these replies.

/i wish i could swim
//deathly afraid of drowning
///i go no further than five feet

I've often wondered what it must be like for blacks who read Fark. There's a lot of pretty open racism here. I'm surprised you put up with it.

/you're hot.
//how YOU doin?

Thai Mai Xhu: Jormungandr: Shadow Blasko: sonder: Show me an inner city black kid that can swim.

G'head.

Jesus christ that guy is hardcore! He's swimming in the farking air!

I laughed at that comment till my ribs hurt and I'm still laughing.
Thank Mang, I needed dat!

I was hoping people would find it as funny as I did. I do fancy myself as a bit of a funnyman so it makes me inordinately happy when people tell me they find something I've said funny.
On the topic of the article, opinions are like assholes, everyone has one and most of them shouldn't be exposed in public.

captain_heroic44: //is it a stereotype if it's true?

White men can't jump.

Never met a black guy who thought of that as anything but a joke. Have met white guys who think it speaks to some truth. Chew on that one for a while.

onebadgungan: Don't spend much time in the Obama threads, eh?

One or two Jackson threads were worse than this, and even those aren't the worst of what you can see on Fark.

captain_heroic44: There's a lot of pretty open racism here.

There's a lot of open sexism, homophobia etc etc that rears its head on Fark. The only difference is, not very many blacks on Fark to stand up to it directly.

WhyteRaven74: captain_heroic44: //is it a stereotype if it's true?

White men can't jump.

Never met a black guy who thought of that as anything but a joke. Have met white guys who think it speaks to some truth. Chew on that one for a while.


Well, there's a difference. The reason blacks can't swim doesn't have anything to do with their actual ability to swim. It has to do with the fact that most of them just aren't trained to swim in childhood. Having worked as a lifeguard, I can attest that there really is truth to the fact that ethnic minorities, especially blacks, are especially at risk for drowning, because they are the least skilled swimmers. That is a reality, and one best not ignored by water safety professionals.

The presumption, at least, of the "white men can't jump" stereotype is that whites actually lack the genetic athletic ability to jump as well as blacks. I have no idea if that's true or not, but given what I know, it seems unlikely. People of different backgrounds play different sports, and develop different athletic prowesses. In WW2, Americans were known for their ability to throw hand grenades farther than their European allies. Why? Because they had developed the ability to throw through baseball.

I don't think there's any real truth to genetic variability in races, other than the surface appearances. But I do think there's a lot of truth to what people learn through cultural background. And I tell ya, swimming ain't one of the things African Americans learn as part of their cultural background. Given, there are exceptions, and no doubt, there are skilled black swimmers out there. But for the most part, that's just not the case.

Your Favorite Token Black Chick: I'm black and I can't swim, so I'm getting a kick outta these replies.

/i wish i could swim
//deathly afraid of drowning
///i go no further than five feet

That profile pic in the your bikini is ironic then.

/And hawt
//How you doin'?

WhyteRaven74: captain_heroic44: There's a lot of pretty open racism here.

There's a lot of open sexism, homophobia etc etc that rears its head on Fark. The only difference is, not very many blacks on Fark to stand up to it directly.

While there is some truth to what you say, I've noticed that the majority of the *ism comes from some very specific farkers, and the rest of them are meant as commentary on the racism of the article or the aforementioned chowderheads.

captain_heroic44:
I've often wondered what it must be like for blacks who read Fark. There's a lot of pretty open racism here. I'm surprised you put up with it.

It's like being on a bus with a broken air conditioner next to a 400 pound woman who neglected to shower for three days, is on her period, and decided to try and cover it all up with perfume she bought at the dollar store. In August. In the south. At 1 pm, during the worst heat wave in 100 years. The windows on the bus don't open, and both you and she get off at the last stop.

You learn to deal with it to get where you need to go. Doesn't mean you like it.

rewind2846: captain_heroic44:
I've often wondered what it must be like for blacks who read Fark. There's a lot of pretty open racism here. I'm surprised you put up with it.

It's like being on a bus with a broken air conditioner next to a 400 pound woman who neglected to shower for three days, is on her period, and decided to try and cover it all up with perfume she bought at the dollar store. In August. In the south. At 1 pm, during the worst heat wave in 100 years. The windows on the bus don't open, and both you and she get off at the last stop.

You learn to deal with it to get where you need to go. Doesn't mean you like it.

Dude. Leave my mom alone.