this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2025
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Huh, I see almost no black people at my local pool. Then again, my town is like 90% white as well. But even in the town where I grew up that was a bit more diverse, black people just didn't go to the local pool, probably because you had to pay to get in and black people (in general and from experience) don't seem to like to swim. Even at my in-laws apartment complex which has a pool, there's almost nobody there, ever, and when we go, it's always just me. People seem to hang out more at the entrance to the complex than inside the complex.
My town (in the South) chose to fill the public pool with cement rather than be forced to allow black residents to use it. For many decades, we didn't have a public pool at all and it's only been fairly recently that a new one was opened. I'm not surprised that black Americans have a reportedly lower rate of swimming proficiency!
I point out this shameful bit of our town history often, because the place has grown tremendously in the last 20 years and become more diverse, and folks here don't appreciate how bad it was within living memory and why we need to keep pushing.
People who are "anti-woke" often say stuff like "they're teaching kids to be ashamed of themselves for what their ancestors did", and I think they don't understand how healing and healthy it is to call out shameful parts of history. For me, acknowledging shameful parts of history is how I distance myself from those things, by subtextually saying "this is no longer the case, AND ALSO we intend to keep pushing forward".
That's exactly my angle. It was bad more recently than you think, and it still needs to get better because we all like our neighbors.
Wow, that's awful.
Ours is getting more diverse too, and my town has a really affordable recreation center ($5/visit or $15-30 per month, depending on single vs couple vs family). We have pretty good diversity when we go, and we bring some diversity ourselves. It's just that there isn't much diversity to go around in my town.
Growing up, swimming just wasn't on the list of priorities for many minorities. They tended to recreate with others in their minority group, so black kids would play basketball, baseball, or football, Hispanics would play soccer or baseball, etc. My black and Asian friends would play video games, but that's just my weird nerdy friend group.
Maybe the culture comes from racism though, idk, but it certainly seems that way in your area. I think it has more to do with role models, there are tons of black athletes in football, basketball, and baseball, but not so many in swimming.
$15 a month is a lot of money for poor people. Minimum wage at 40 hours a week is only $1160 a month. If rent is $700 a month (and that's cheaper than any apartment I've seen lately that only leaves $460 for everything else. Sure the rec center is nice but is it worth spending 3-6% of your post-housing expenses on?
Unlimited access to a gym (full compliment of weights and machines) with a pool and included classes? Yeah, I think so.
I was talking to a black guy from the US one day at a sailing club. He said that a lot of his ancestors had had a bad experience the first time they’d been on a boat; so water based activities weren’t that popular... I thought about it for a second or two and then we both started laughing. History is brutal.
That's terrible, I bet that guy's a hoot.
I guess they meant the vibes, not the colour of their skin.
People are loud at public pools, children running around and having fun.
Which is why I pick a local river or beach instead. Its a lot cheaper and quieter. Looked at the local leisure centre which has a pool, first thing on their page "Prices from £45 per month". Fuck that.
Ours is $5/visit, or about $25/month if you pay annually (less if you buy in January). I think that's a really good deal.