Comments on: Philadelphia private swim club forces out black children

By: It Is Not About Race | Midnight Blue Says

It Is Not About Race | Midnight Blue Says — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 18:33:19 +0000

[...] word yet from yesterday outraged leftists (see, pandagon.net, Jack & Jill Politics, Gawker, Unreported, and Alas, a blog). No doubt, the netroots racial investigators went mum once they found out [...]

By: Allison Kilkenny

Allison Kilkenny — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:30:04 +0000

I really don’t agree. Considering how awfully the club treated the kids, I’d say the public’s response has been very civil.

By: mrsmax

mrsmax — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 15:42:42 +0000

“Mob mentality” can be a force for good, such as the people protesting in Iran against a stolen election, or bad, as in lynchings.
But I do not think the uproar over the Valley Swim Club can be described as “mob mentality” except on the part of the club members.
Neither can it be described as a private controversy nor was the club president acting as a private person. He didn’t invite them to his home to swim and then change his mind, he took nearly $2000 from the center to use a facility which the club site says has open membership.
I have absolutely no sympathy for the swim club officials who have taught these children that maybe you can grow up to be president but please don’t expect us to share a swimming pool with you.

By: Allison Kilkenny

Allison Kilkenny — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:38:00 +0000

The original story I linked to only made mention of 60 campers and the issue of race itself (http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Pool-Boots-Kids-Who-Might-Change-the-Complexion.html). The fact that some of the campers were Hispanic came out later, but the fact remains that most of the campers are black.

By: Allison Kilkenny

Allison Kilkenny — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:34:57 +0000

Instead of congratulating The Valley Club for their altruistic act of taking more than $1900 from a children’s camp to use their pool, how about we focus on the fact that they then inexplicably rescinded the offer, and the only public explanation for the ejection of 60 campers, who happen to all be of color, was from the pool’s President, who said allowing the children to stay would have changed the “complexion” of the pool.

Since when is reporting on a story, and giving the residents of Philadelphia the right to tell the owner of a pool (which resides in their community,) how they feel about their admission policies, “mob mentality”? Should no one cover any stories of racism, then, since it might result in your subjective labeling of a “mob” reaction? The pool’s president decided to make this a public issue when he spoke to the press and rescinded the invitation to the campers (after they had paid almost $2,000) for the right to use the pool.

By: dlsteinhardt

dlsteinhardt — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:22:04 +0000

And, no, NBC News never reported that “60 African-American kids” were involved. There were 60 kids, the majority of whom were black or Hispanic.

Just an example of the “way too easy” sloppiness I see here!

By: dlsteinhardt

dlsteinhardt — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:20:16 +0000

If Horace Gibson’s claim is true, then that’s quite damning, but that’s a parent, writing an email based on what his kid told him, presumably, and not a first-hand account.

As I’ve posted elsewhere, this story is just too easy for everyone to get self-righteous about, and ignores that the most racist clubs in the Philly area certainly never invited any city kids there in the first place!

So the scrum all over the Valley Club has all the hallmarks of “way too easy” and no, I don’t think it’s ethical to call for harassment of a private person, even at his workplace, when one side of the story is given credence and his is simply ignored.

Do I think the Valley Club behaved badly? Probably. But the mob mentality beating up these folks in the press is ugly, and doesn’t follow the standards any of us would want for own private controversies suddenly made public.

By: mrsmax

mrsmax — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 20:38:29 +0000

I understand your point, Brian. But the private ownership principle doesn’t apply under Pennsylvania human rights case law since the club chose to allow access to its facilities to non-members.
If someone is that concerned about swimming with people of a different race, they should put pools in their backyards where they do have every right to say who can use them.

By: LOSE THIS SKIN « Semi-autonomous Collective

LOSE THIS SKIN « Semi-autonomous Collective — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 16:32:30 +0000

[...] Not the kind of bouffed-up hair and checkered shirts: the kind where black people are not invited. Allison Kilkenny reports that a Philadelphia-based private swim club has taken upon itself to kick out over sixty children from its pools, the reason being that they [...]

By: briano

briano — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 14:26:22 +0000

Mrsmax, I think that we all recognize that this is clearly racism. I think that what is at stake here is the integrity of the private ownership principle. Those people with white hoods have as much of a right to march as anyone else. Just because we do not agree with them does not mean that we can silence them. That is anti-democratic.