A Philadelphia Swim Club that advertises "open membership" booted 60 African American kids whose day camp had paid a total of $1900 of membership fees.
"When the minority children got in the pool all of the Caucasian children immediately exited the pool," Horace Gibson, parent of a day camp child, wrote in an email. "The pool attendants came and told the black children that they did not allow minorities in the club and needed the children to leave immediately."
The next day the club told the camp director that the camp's membership was being suspended and their money would be refunded.
In this day and age? WTF? More in extended.
UPDATE: VIDEO-- http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/...
UPDATE 2: FYI... The Club's Website ...
Allyson Schwartz, Democrat, is their Rep. in Congress.
The explanation they got was either dishearteningly honest or poorly worded.
"There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion ... and the atmosphere of the club," John Duesler, President of The Valley Swim Club said in a statement.
While the parents await an apology, the camp is scrambling to find a new place for the kids to beat the summer heat.
This seems outrageous, and I am wondering:
- Where the PA Attorney General is in this. Any PA area Kossacks want to e-mail the AG this story?
- Who represents this district in Congress and would they be willing to get involved?
- Any churches going to picket?
Sorry... but this just seems so incredibly blatant and wrong, this cannot be let stand and go without comment.
UPDATE 3:
That even in the case that there was some monumental foul-up and they were cancelling lots of contracts-
Its a VERY bad business practice
When cancelling a contract, there are SOME THINGS YOU JUST DON'T DO... like
Insinuate (i.e. say directly) its because the kids are black, and
Use code-words like "complexion" in a prepared statement.
Regardless of why this happened (and I think it was utter outright racism, not some snafu).
UPDATE 4:
A point of further discussion:
I am not sure I agree with the emailing, calling people in the story, etc.
I am for emailing and calling people who could actually HELP these kids get a place to swim and/or news media and/or politicians to make sure this gets reported/investigated.
The way for justice to be served is for the AG to investigate,
for Congresswoman Schwartz to offer constituent service and/or help in some way and in highlighting this outrage
and
for the community to come together, perhaps through churches, and show this club that the community does not support this kind of racism.