this post was submitted on 23 Apr 2024
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Black People Can’t Swim [Here] (lemmy.world)
submitted 7 months ago by alphanerd4@lemmy.world to c/vintagephotos@lemmy.world
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/14606887

‘Black people can’t swim’ Because until very recent memory, the US was an explicitly white supremacist authoritarian state, And access to public pools specifically Was one of the crowning achievements of The evil at the heart of this country. They destroyed every public pool that they couldn’t privatize. To keep segregation in place. And that’s why the US is still fucking segregated. The federal government stepped in until it wasn’t politically advantageous anymore and then they gave up And nothing had changed. They just declared victory and called white supremacy something else. If you look at US history, this is this is what the country is. This is the central pattern of what this colonial settler state is, And anything outside of that is fundamentally aspirational, divorced from the actual reality of the situation.

It’s really incredibly easy to say oh well it’s flawed, but it’s the best in the world, when it’s only people that you are OK with hurting that are getting hurt in the meantime.

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[–] Dkarma@lemmy.world 58 points 7 months ago

After the end of segregation, white people closed every public pool instead of letting their kids swim with people of a different skin color.

[–] Pronell@lemmy.world 38 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I'd gone to an unsegregated public pool in Minneapolis a few times back in the late 80s.

Almost certainly long gone now.

Never even occurred to me that the pool I was visiting was rare, almost unheard of elsewhere in the country.

I was aware of the segregationist history of the country at the time, just too young to really think it through and realize I was living in a tiny bubble of exception. It was a few years later when a 12 year old was stabbed blocks from my school and it didn't even make the news. (The only reason I knew about it was because my dad saved the kids life while I sat petrified in the car.)

[–] Alexstarfire@lemmy.world 6 points 7 months ago

We've had a community pool for as long as I can remember. Used to be at the park but they closed that one when the dedicated one opened down the street from it, maybe 15 years ago. New one is a county one. There are a few others that I'm aware of in the county.

You get a discount if you're a resident of the county.

[–] Mongostein@lemmy.ca 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

In the 80s? Segregated pools should have been long gone by then

[–] Pronell@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, I said a desegregated public pool. Extremely crowded.

[–] Mongostein@lemmy.ca 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Ok yeah, but were there still segregated pools at that time?

[–] Pronell@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

No, it was just a commentary that I'd been in a public pool decades later and not realizing that what I was experiencing was at all rare or controversial.

[–] Mongostein@lemmy.ca 4 points 7 months ago

Ah. Ok gotcha. I was a little confused. Thanks

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 33 points 7 months ago

Holy shit is that ever evil.

[–] misc@lemmy.sdf.org 21 points 7 months ago (1 children)

What a fucking asshole . The fact that he did this and probably had no consequences sometimes humans disappoint me .

[–] alphanerd4@lemmy.world 12 points 7 months ago

I believe the closest he came to consequences was that the KKK trashed the hotel after a court made him integrate it anyway.

[–] Mango@lemmy.world 20 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Is this where the "black people can't swim" thing comes from?!

[–] phdepressed@sh.itjust.works 32 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It's related because the closure of public pools meant children without access to private pools at a country club or neighborhood would not be able to learn. This was concurrent with redlining and suburb development that prohibited black people from buying homes in places that were likely to have private pools and why inner-city areas remain predominantly black.

[–] Mango@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago

That's fucked. I always thought it was completely arbitrary.

[–] Thassodar@lemm.ee 24 points 7 months ago (1 children)

No that's more from fewer economic opportunities to have a home with a private pool, or the means to get to a public one.

Source: I can't swim

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 15 points 7 months ago

And racially-motivated city planning. NY had tunnels too low for busses to fit through.

[–] alphanerd4@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Yes. The title is a reference to that. Someone pointed it out on the tumblr post and its like the horror realization. I know how to swim because I got lessons in a public pool in Pittsburgh and there was a camp in michigan coming from that area too that the church helped pay for, but after that: Swim team, boy scouts, private pool, private pool, private swimming club, private pool. ..... Yeah. That would be why black people can't swim.

[–] Mango@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

I grew up around a lake.

[–] li10@feddit.uk 15 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Kinda besides the point, but would that actually do anything or would it just instantly dilute?

[–] cosmicrookie@lemmy.world 39 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

It did nothing. The protesters knew and one of them even took a sip of the water to show that they were safe. An (off duty) policeman even jumped in it and started beating them up. I guess media has been media all along This is the picture of the protesters still in the pool and the policeman jumping in to arrest them

https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/motel-manager-pouring-acid-water-black-people-swam-pool-1964/

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe 2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Not really. A direct splash would have been harmful, which he certainly doesn't seem to mind considering he's close to pouring it on someone, and the intention in this case matters more than effect.

[–] hasnt_seen_goonies@lemmy.world 16 points 7 months ago (1 children)

That's a great question. In this case (if I'm remembering the correct protest), this was a group of protesters that had gotten into a hotel(?) pool that had been marked as whites only. The acid the man is pouring in is a type of pool cleaner. The water would dissipate the cleaner, but it was slowly making the pool ph drop. I believe the kids that stayed in the pool the longest suffered burns.

[–] mihnt@lemmy.ca 4 points 7 months ago

Muriatic acid?

[–] JimboDHimbo@lemmy.ca 8 points 7 months ago

Dad made sure we all of his kids knew how to swim. Hell, the only sister I don't share a father with knows how to surf. I hate the beach though.