Pa. Swim Club Under Fire After Turning Away Minority Kids | Badeau P.O.V. | Comcast.net News

While the NAACP prepares to celebrate its 100 year anniversary in New York later this week, a race controversy is swirling around a private swim club in the Philadelphia area, making some people wonder what year this is.

NBC Philadelphia is reporting that The Valley Swim Club in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania turned away 65 black and Hispanic kids after the Creative Steps Day Camp paid the club over $1,900 by e-mail in advance to let its campers use the pool.

The report says the kids said they heard racist comments on their first day at the pool.  "I heard this lady, she was like, 'Uh, what are all these black kids doing here?' She's like, 'I'm scared they might do something to my child,'" said camper Dymire Baylor.

The very next day, the club reportedly contacted the camp’s director Alethea Wright and told her that they were suspending the camp’s pool membership and would be refunding the money. They did not give Wright a reason for this action.

Wright says she told the club, “The parents don't want their money back. They want a good place for their children to swim, which is what they paid for.”

"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, according to NBC Philadelphia.

Fox News reported Duesler admitted that club members had complained about the campers, but said the complaints were not race-related and insisted that the club’s decision to suspend the camp’s use of the pool had nothing to do with race.

I called the club several times to try to get a comment on this situation and was greeted with an upbeat voicemail that promoted plenty of club membership openings.  I couldn’t leave a message because their mailbox was full. I also tried reaching them by e-mail and have not yet received a reply.

CNN reported that one of their producers was told to leave the premises.  The TV station said they were told Duesler had no comment, but that another man who said he was the one who had complained to the director spoke to them.  CNN reported that he said space not race was the issue and that there were other camps using the pool too and it was just too crowded.

Several parents are reportedly considering taking legal action against the club and U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) is planning to launch an investigation into the discrimination claim to find out exactly what happened.

"The allegations against the swim club as they are reported are extremely disturbing," Specter said in a statement. "I am reaching out to the parties involved to ascertain the facts. Racial discrimination has no place in America today."

Fox 29 News says the NAACP and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission are also looking into the incident.

Twitter user BookerRising posted: “Is it 2009, or 1959? Philadelphia suburban pool boots out black kids for ‘changing the complexion’ of the pool.”

Philadelphia community organizer Marc Stier founded a Facebook group “Ready to Protest Racial Discrimination at the Valley Swim Club.”  The group already has 190 members and a demonstration at the swim club is planned for this evening at 5:30.

YodadogProductions put a video on YouTube that examines the photos on the club’s website.

In the meantime, the Creative Steps Day Camp kids will have a place to swim this summer. Girard College, a private Philadelphia boarding school for children who live in low-income and single parent homes, has invited the campers to swim at their facilities.

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