My two cents on the swimming pool controversy

I see there is some huge controversy in Philly that's been all over the news because a private pool was allowing a daycare group to use their pool once a week, but after one visit the daycare group was told they wouldn't be able to return and had their money refunded. The issue here is that the daycare group is primarily black and now they (along with a few other civil rights leaders are crying racism. The pool says the issue is safety. Apparently, they only have three to four lifeguards working their two pools, one which is a 110, 000 gallon pool and a smaller pool. This daycare group has approximately fifty-five students, many more than the pool thought they were bringing. The group thinks it's racism because they heard one customer (no adult heard the comment, a child actually reported it) at the pool say "something about there being alot of black kids at the pool that day".

LIke so many of these cases, it sounds like more paranoia about race. Because I've managed several pools before, I do have some background knowledge. A 110,000 galloon pool is pretty good-sized, but with fifty-five students PLUS all of the other customers, that would be an extremely crowded pool. And, of course, the more crowded the pool is the more dangerous it is. A 110,000 pool with so many customers would be very difficult to monitor with such a small staff. The daycare group argued that they had eight staff members on hand as well, but unless they have water safety and rescue training (and of course CPR, First Aid, AED, and oxygen administration training and certifications) they wouldn't be very helpful. The group might think if they bring a few extra hands it's just like them bringing their own lifeguards, but they are entirely wrong. This doesn't even mention the extra discipline problems the staff would have to deal with.

Arlen Specter, the Senator from Pennsylvania, sent a letter to the club urging them to invite the group back saying "racism has no place in the country". I'm sure he was caught up in the hysteria, but he should have been a leader and checked out the facts first.

It seems completely plausible, and likely, that it was unsafe for the club. It makes sense they would apologize and refund the group. Two other daycare groups, which were primarily white, were also told they would not be able to come back. The group might complain, but I wonder how they would react if a kid would have drowned. They probably would have found a way to make that racial too. What I found really sad is that there were kids interviewed on the tv crying because they had been told by the leaders of the daycare center that they were kicked out because the people at the club were racist and didn't like them because they were black. No doubt there is still racism in this country, but it is very, very sad when people look through blind eyes, looking at everything as a racial issue. It's sad when people want to blame race for their problems, instead of taking responsibility or taking a second to understand the situation. It's easy, and lazy, to simply have a problem and say it's a race issue and just say the other person is racist. But it's very damaging and until people stop thinking that way, and more importantly, stop teaching their children to think that way, we will never have a society with healthy race relations.