Why don't black Americans swim?

[syrenn]

To answer the OP...I think a number of children don't learn to swim for two reasons: 1) lack of availability - if there's not a public pool or lake nearby you're less likely to have a chance to learn and 2) parents perception - a lot of parents don't really see swimming as a useful skill and so they don't focus their children learning, especially if they live in an area where their kids won't swim much.

Living in MI, we have lots of public lakes and pools within easy distance (and affordable being cheap or free admission) even from cities so the majority of our kids swim, and quite well. You see every shade of skin on our beaches and the kids all run and swim and have fun splashing and playing like little otters in the water. Here it's something you consider important to teach your children because they will, at some point, end up going to the beach with their friends and you don't want them to drown, there's a perception that it's a useful skill to have.

In a state with less water, the urgency to teach kids, and teach them young, to swim (or at least tread water and float) would be less, I would think, because those children are already less likely to end up in a drowning situation.

Just my own 0.02$ worth.

remember though. We are talking swimming, not wading. There is a big difference actually. I see dozens of families of all races use the pool, but avoid the deep end. Only a few do, and they are mostly white or hispanic. Otherwise they cling to the edge if they go there.

To really have skill in swimming, they need classes or work done with their parents and learn to stroke, kick, float, and be able to do more than splash or dogpaddle the 10 feet back to the edge.

Then again, I took swimming lessons for 10 years and diving for 1.

Anyone who cant SWIM has no damn business in the fucking water! If you cant swim put on a damn life vest!

 

[Big Fitz]

To answer the OP...I think a number of children don't learn to swim for two reasons: 1) lack of availability - if there's not a public pool or lake nearby you're less likely to have a chance to learn and 2) parents perception - a lot of parents don't really see swimming as a useful skill and so they don't focus their children learning, especially if they live in an area where their kids won't swim much.

Living in MI, we have lots of public lakes and pools within easy distance (and affordable being cheap or free admission) even from cities so the majority of our kids swim, and quite well. You see every shade of skin on our beaches and the kids all run and swim and have fun splashing and playing like little otters in the water. Here it's something you consider important to teach your children because they will, at some point, end up going to the beach with their friends and you don't want them to drown, there's a perception that it's a useful skill to have.

In a state with less water, the urgency to teach kids, and teach them young, to swim (or at least tread water and float) would be less, I would think, because those children are already less likely to end up in a drowning situation.

Just my own 0.02$ worth.

remember though. We are talking swimming, not wading. There is a big difference actually. I see dozens of families of all races use the pool, but avoid the deep end. Only a few do, and they are mostly white or hispanic. Otherwise they cling to the edge if they go there.

To really have skill in swimming, they need classes or work done with their parents and learn to stroke, kick, float, and be able to do more than splash or dogpaddle the 10 feet back to the edge.

Then again, I took swimming lessons for 10 years and diving for 1.

Anyone who cant SWIM has no damn business in the fucking water! If you cant swim put on a damn life vest!

people are dumm too many times because the world has been made too safe for them to be purged from the gene pool or gain wisdom from experience and experience from bad judgment.

 

[Samson]

So its cultural that a poor black kid from new york or chicago thinks there are sharks in ALL waters? Its a slavery thing?


You are a fucking idiot.

Oh and god bless.

Zona,

Did you parents tell you all water was shark infested? Did any of your friends parents tell their children this? Do you think all waters are shark infested even pools? Did your parents or grand parents somehow have slave owners whispering in their ears? Did any of your friends parents or grandparents have slave owners telling them the waters were shark infested?

I have no idea what this idiot is talking about. Its cultural that we as blacks thinks all waters have sharks because of slavery?

What kind of idiotic stormfront rhetoric is that?

The only reason blacks, whites and everything in between may have thought there were sharks anywhere and were afraid of them, was due to "Jaws".

Were going to need a bigger brain Samson. Seriously.

I have heard some crazy crap before, but to say its cultural why blacks cant swim because they have something instilled in them from slavery is just insane!

We didnt swim in the "hood" because we had no place to do it. We were good with water plugs, but not pools. Its not cultural, its economical.

Samson is the ass of the day on this one. Seriously...wow.

Now, now Zona, you seem to have soiled yourself.

After you clean up, and get your panties out of a wad, why don't you share your own theory.

I'm certain it will be enlightening.

I mean that bathing would be an enlightening experience for you;

however, your theory concerning why (from the OP's link) black parents are fearful of water, or, to be more precise for the undoubtably thick, fearful of swimming in water, might also be interesting.

 

[hylandrdet]

Interesting article. I learned to swim at age 3, so can't imagine not knowing how to swim. Yet, many American children don't learn, with Black Americans with a huge percentage of non-swimmers. According to the article, in the UK swimming is a part of the curriculum of their educational system. But, in the U.S. it's up to the parents.

BBC News - Why don't black Americans swim?

A month ago, six African-American teenagers drowned in a single incident in Louisiana, prompting soul-searching about why so many young black Americans can't swim.

When 15-year-old DeKendrix Warner accidentally stepped into deeper water while wading in the Red River in Shreveport, he panicked.

JaTavious Warner, 17, Takeitha Warner, 13, JaMarcus Warner, 14, Litrelle Stewart, 18, Latevin Stewart, 15, and LaDarius Stewart, 17, rushed to help him and each other.

None of them could swim. All six drowned. DeKendrix was rescued by a passer-by.

Maude Warner, mother of three of the victims, and the other adults present also couldn't swim

Just as a side note, I notice that the drowning victims all have quite creative names...

US swimming stats

USA Swimming/University of Memphis study found ethnic differences
68.9% of African-American children with no or low ability to swim
57.9% of Hispanic children
41.8% of white children
Study quizzed 2,000 children and parents in six US cities
CDC recorded 3,443 fatal accidental drownings in 2007
Drowning is second greatest cause of accidental death in children under 14
African-American children aged 5 to 14 3.1 times more likely to drown

I'll bite.

The reason is simple... money.

The average price for homes, near lake, river and ocean areas, are at least 10x the value of landlocked areas.

African Americans are less likely to be able to afford to purchase real estate lots near lakes, streams and oceans, simply because they're too expensive.

Why would anyone teach their children how to swim, if it's quite possible that their children will never see waters of that magnitude, within their lifetime?

Would you teach your kid how to explore a volcano, knowing that he/she will never see one? Food for thought.

 

[Samson]

Interesting article. I learned to swim at age 3, so can't imagine not knowing how to swim. Yet, many American children don't learn, with Black Americans with a huge percentage of non-swimmers. According to the article, in the UK swimming is a part of the curriculum of their educational system. But, in the U.S. it's up to the parents.

BBC News - Why don't black Americans swim?

A month ago, six African-American teenagers drowned in a single incident in Louisiana, prompting soul-searching about why so many young black Americans can't swim.

When 15-year-old DeKendrix Warner accidentally stepped into deeper water while wading in the Red River in Shreveport, he panicked.

JaTavious Warner, 17, Takeitha Warner, 13, JaMarcus Warner, 14, Litrelle Stewart, 18, Latevin Stewart, 15, and LaDarius Stewart, 17, rushed to help him and each other.

None of them could swim. All six drowned. DeKendrix was rescued by a passer-by.

Maude Warner, mother of three of the victims, and the other adults present also couldn't swim

Just as a side note, I notice that the drowning victims all have quite creative names...

US swimming stats

USA Swimming/University of Memphis study found ethnic differences
68.9% of African-American children with no or low ability to swim
57.9% of Hispanic children
41.8% of white children
Study quizzed 2,000 children and parents in six US cities
CDC recorded 3,443 fatal accidental drownings in 2007
Drowning is second greatest cause of accidental death in children under 14
African-American children aged 5 to 14 3.1 times more likely to drown

I'll bite.

The reason is simple... money.

The average price for homes, near lake, river and ocean areas, are at least 10x the value of landlocked areas.

African Americans are less likely to be able to afford to purchase real estate lots near lakes, streams and oceans, simply because they're too expensive.

Why would anyone teach their children how to swim, if it's quite possible that their children will never see waters of that magnitude, within their lifetime?

Would you teach your kid how to explore a volcano, knowing that he/she will never see one? Food for thought.

I was hoping you'd be right.

Read the article: It says that money is not the issue.

 

[AkronGuy]

The thing about the landlocked theory is that my parents took the time to get off of their asses and to take me to a YMCA and enrolled me in swimming classes. And the closest body of water of any signifigance is miles away.

 

[DiveCon]

The thing about the landlocked theory is that my parents took the time to get off of their asses and to take me to a YMCA and enrolled me in swimming classes. And the closest body of water of any signifigance is miles away.

no lakes near by?

 

[DiveCon]

Bing Maps

sure looks like that are a few lakes there

 

[Samson]

The thing about the landlocked theory is that my parents took the time to get off of their asses and to take me to a YMCA and enrolled me in swimming classes. And the closest body of water of any signifigance is miles away.

So you think black parents are simply more lazy than white parents?

 

[Samson]

I think it's part cultural and part the after effects of segregated swimming facilities.

And what you just said is all about excuses.

Segregation ended years ago and has nothing to do with young people today, and for that matter not so young people either.

Syrenn, I'm going to be as polite as possible, so I'll beat around your bush:

Do you think there is no such thing as black culture because "segregation ended years ago?"

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

Interesting article.

not really.

I told you before: "Why can't blacks play golf?" heard pre-Tiger.

 

[syrenn]

I think it's part cultural and part the after effects of segregated swimming facilities.

And what you just said is all about excuses.

Segregation ended years ago and has nothing to do with young people today, and for that matter not so young people either.

Syrenn, I'm going to be as polite as possible, so I'll beat around your bush:

Do you think there is no such thing as black culture because "segregation ended years ago?"

Of course i believe in black culture. The bit about segregated pools in the past has no bearing on blacks of today not knowing how to swim. If anything it increased black access to pools. AND if they didnt want to swim in the first place why complain about segregated pools (and that is not saying that i agree with segregated anything!)

That being said parents( black or otherwise) who do not have their children waterproofed are LAZY parents. Those very same parents who then take their children and let them go into the water are just flat DUMB!

 

[Samson]

And what you just said is all about excuses.

Segregation ended years ago and has nothing to do with young people today, and for that matter not so young people either.

Syrenn, I'm going to be as polite as possible, so I'll beat around your bush:

Do you think there is no such thing as black culture because "segregation ended years ago?"

Of course i believe in black culture. The bit about segregated pools in the past has no bearing on blacks of today not knowing how to swim. If anything it increased black access to pools. AND if they didnt want to swim in the first place why complain about segregated pools (and that is not saying that i agree with segregated anything!)

That being said parents( black or otherwise) who do not have their children waterproofed are LAZY parents. Those very same parents who then take their children and let them go into the water are just flat DUMB!

What's this make it....the forth or fifth time you've made the comment:

You: Parents are LAZY
Me: Why are Black parents afraid of the water?
You: Parents are LAZY
Me; Yeah, heard that, but why are black parents afraid of the water?
You; Parents are LAZY
Me: Yeah, fucking fascinating having a discussion with you.
You: Parents are LAZY
Me: What is your favorite color?
You: Parents are LAZY

 

[DiveCon]

And what you just said is all about excuses.

Segregation ended years ago and has nothing to do with young people today, and for that matter not so young people either.

Syrenn, I'm going to be as polite as possible, so I'll beat around your bush:

Do you think there is no such thing as black culture because "segregation ended years ago?"

Of course i believe in black culture. The bit about segregated pools in the past has no bearing on blacks of today not knowing how to swim. If anything it increased black access to pools. AND if they didnt want to swim in the first place why complain about segregated pools (and that is not saying that i agree with segregated anything!)

That being said parents( black or otherwise) who do not have their children waterproofed are LAZY parents. Those very same parents who then take their children and let them go into the water are just flat DUMB!

this study only use 6 American CITIES for their research
they might not have got an accurate results but it says also 40%+ white kids in their study didnt know how to swim

 

[syrenn]

Syrenn, I'm going to be as polite as possible, so I'll beat around your bush:

Do you think there is no such thing as black culture because "segregation ended years ago?"

Of course i believe in black culture. The bit about segregated pools in the past has no bearing on blacks of today not knowing how to swim. If anything it increased black access to pools. AND if they didnt want to swim in the first place why complain about segregated pools (and that is not saying that i agree with segregated anything!)

That being said parents( black or otherwise) who do not have their children waterproofed are LAZY parents. Those very same parents who then take their children and let them go into the water are just flat DUMB!

What's this make it....the forth or fifth time you've made the comment:

You: Parents are LAZY
Me: Why are Black parents afraid of the water?

I dont care if the parents are afraid of the water...that is MORE reason to have their children taught to swim. It is LAZY parenting not to have your children waterporfed





You: Parents are LAZY
Me; Yeah, heard that, but why are black parents afraid of the water?

Who cares WHY. It has no bearing on what they have their children taught.


You; Parents are LAZY
Me: Yeah, fucking fascinating having a discussion with you.

Yes your being lazy in seeing what i am saying...



You: Parents are LAZY
Me: What is your favorite color?

Same color as the water i know how to swim in



You: Parents are LAZY

 

[Samson]

Me; Yeah, heard that, but why are black parents afraid of the water?

Who cares WHY. It has no bearing on what they have their children taught.

Yeah, that's sheer genius.

 

[Tank]

I get the sense that black folks are somewhat skittish when it come to swimming, also skittish around animals too

 

[syrenn]

Me; Yeah, heard that, but why are black parents afraid of the water?

Who cares WHY. It has no bearing on what they have their children taught.

Yeah, that's sheer genius.

So what you are saying is if you were afraid of the water you would not have your children taught to swim?

 

[Samson]

Me; Yeah, heard that, but why are black parents afraid of the water?

Who cares WHY. It has no bearing on what they have their children taught.

Yeah, that's sheer genius.

So what you are saying is if you were afraid of the water you would not have your children taught to swim?

No, I'm just repeating what the article in the OP says.

 

[syrenn]

Yeah, that's sheer genius.

So what you are saying is if you were afraid of the water you would not have your children taught to swim?

No, I'm just repeating what the article in the OP says.