(no subject)

[gategrrl]

Of course, let's frame a tragedy where 6 children drowned in a river in Louisiana on race instead of lack of swimming knowledge and parental ignorance.  I'm not sure where to "place the blame" on this one. Is it still that bad in LA where black families have no access to swimming lessons and public pools?  (I guess I wouldn't be entirely surprised)

And here's an ABC News clip featuring the tragedy and explaining how 3 times the number of black children drown than white children, and briefly goes into the possible reasons why. The teens who drowned should be considered heros, considering they went into that water trying to save their sibling/friend.

Comments

[superbadgirl]

I can't swim. I go in the water, yes, but only if I know with absolute certainty I can get the hell out. I can't imagine bringing children to a place known to be dangerous (was this public knowledge - the article implied it was) and have no one in the party able to swim.

*shudders at the mere thought of the comment section*

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

The comment section was a sight to behold.

[polymexina.livejournal.com]

Yes, it is.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

Not even public pools? I'm showing my ignorance here; where I grew up, and where I live now, public pools are free or cheap, are open during the summer, and no one is turned away. They even offer cheap swimming lessons. And *everybody* goes to them. Louisiana doesn't have that public pool system?

[superbadgirl]

Butting in to say that the municipalities have to have the funds to even create a public pool, and if they are in an economically depressed area - how likely is that to make it to the top of the list?

(No, I don't feel like working today. Had you noticed? I'm LJ stalking you, apparently.)

[polymexina.livejournal.com]

Not clean and safe, no. Ha. Or necessarily filled with water.

[polymexina.livejournal.com]

Keep in mind you're talking about a state where census workers have to take little bayou boats to homes inaccessible any other way, where there's not necessarily electricity, and where looking around the architecture and infrascructure hasn't changed since the 1920s.

[ladyjax.livejournal.com]

When I went to college and had to do the water test in ROTC (the one where you jump off the high board, fully clothed, then swim to the other side), one of the NCOs was surprised that I knew how to swim. When I told him that a) I'd been swimming since I was a wee one, b) my mother got me swimming lessons at the Y, and c) our family went to the beach every summer and my brother and I had pool permits as kids, he was sort of shocked. And then he told me why: he grew up during segregation, in a land locked area where going to the public pool was out of the question.

I checked in with my dad and he confirmed that while the pools were segregated, beaches or at least parts of them were not always; he was a life long New Yorker.

As I got older, I met more and more Black adults who either never swam, or ended up taking lessons when they were older because they didn't take them as kids. Access to facilities and lessons were usually the main reasons as to why not. It would not surprise me if this was still the case in some parts of the country.