[T]he staff at Girard College, a private Philadelphia boarding school for children who live in low-income and single parent homes, stepped in and offered their pool.To think that The Valley Swim Club took the $1900 from Creative Steps Day Camp yet were so appalled when they actually deigned to show and they were -- gasp -- Negroes -- that they gave the money back indicates they didn't think the money wasn't green enough to accept the "contamination" of the pool. I can't think of more publicly inhumane behavior toward children in recent memory. It's such a stain on his state that Arlen Specter is looking into this social (and PR) catastrophe."We had to help," said Girard College director of Admissions Tamara Leclair. "Every child deserves an incredible summer camp experience."
The school already serves 500 campers of its own, but felt they could squeeze in 65 more - especially since the pool is vacant on the day the Creative Steps had originally planned to swim at Valley Swim Club.
"I'm so excited," camp director Alethea Wright exclaimed. There are still a few logistical nuisances -- like insurance -- the organizations have to work out, but it seems the campers will not stay dry for long.
And to sweeten the deal, the owners of Gumdrops & Sprinkles treated the kids to a free day of candy and ice cream making.
I have a couple of questions, though. Let's say that the state, and Specter talk to the club's owners and the PR nightmare continues for The Valley Swim Club. The club has a couple of choices, and none are good (not that I feel sorry for these bigots). Lift their racist ban on POC, or claim right of assembly as a pris a private club (that cannot possibly fly if they take money from non-members to access the facility -- that's public accommodation). So then they have to clean up their public relations mess by admitting minorities.
Do you think that members of the club will cancel their memberships in droves over this? I could see this happening because they were so casual in expressing their bigotry out in the open; certainly they will rebel against any notion that they have to socialize with human beings they see as "pickaninnies," right
Take a look at some of the comments found at the article below the fold.
From the comments of the article:
So nice to see everyone playing the race card once again. Unfortunately those that claim to condemn it only further it's existence by bringing it up EVERY CHANCE THEY GET. The private club is just that, and despite the poor choice of wording used by the club representative, the fact is, it remains a private club. I wonder what the camp will do next..........hmmmm........perhaps take the kids to lunch at Le Bec Fin, then when they act up and are thrown out, everyone will be screaming racism once again. Seems both sides are to blame in this one, the camp for thinking they can take 65 rowdy children to a private club, and the club itself for booking the camp in the first place. And why weren't these kids taken to a PUBLIC pool to begin with? No one has provided an answer to that one yet either. I know for a fact not ALL the pools were shutdown by everyone's favorite mayor.Now, I don't know anything about Philly, but I used to live in one of those NY neighborhoods that always got a bad rap as an urban ghetto -- Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Not every block was a hell-hole of urban crime, not every black man was a thug, convict or wino. What was and is true is that minorities are victimized by crime more often in their own neighborhoods than any white resident in a tony suburb. Bed-Stuy was always full of working middle class people of color and they always took pride in their neighborhood, but the lower middle class and those just getting by (or not at all) were part of the scene as well. I'm sick of the urban stereotypes tossed around. Does the neighborhood below, my old stomping grounds, look like a rat's nest? Bullsh*t.good for them. go somewhere else. and it is especially nice of Vince to leave out the safety issues regarding why they were told not to come back. The Valley Club does not have enough lifeguards to watch this many kids, who are NOT good swimmers, so the first concern was their safety...not their color. But God forbid you tell a black person they can't do something because then you MUST be racist. Maybe you are too ignorant to see past you own color and realize that there just might be a reason other than your color that this was done. And Vince, maybe ask the club if anyone else was turned away. Oh, 3 others camps were turned away....because they were too big for the club to safely watch. Maybe if your mayor hadn't run the city into the ground and closed YOUR pools you wouldn't need to come to ours.
should have just closed the pool for the day and let these animals have at it. Wait, they might have to close the pool for two days to clean up after them.
this has nothing to do with racism...has to do with certain people not being repsctful to others...the black as a whole is not bad...but some of these younger kids of no respect for anything...and i think the owner just did not want problems...if the black community wants us to respect them they have to start to respect others...it can not just be a one way deal
People are missing the big picture here! The fact is that inner city people (yea, I mean "you people") do not take care of their surroundings! Ever walk or drive through North Philly?? It's a rats nest! Trash, broken glass, drug debris, used condoms ect. all over the streets.. Do you want people who have NO self worth in your private swim club? It has nothing to do with color.. It has to do with 65 kids from the same place that I just spoke of! It's about class and it starts with the adults.. They raise their children to grow up and be statistic.
your an idiot...you never seen a bunch of blacks hanging out together ....they are trouble...if they want us to accept them as equal...that have to stop acting like thugs and start to respect other people...when they do that then maybe people will see them as equal...but idiots like you keep makeing ecuses for them and things will never change
Rick, even with these "all black" schemes, what is the percen percentage of black men in institutions of higher learning? The fact is that on an individual level, white men may feel discriminated against, but in an overall level, white people still come out tops. All black colleges were created because blacks couldn't get into the white colleges. Not because black people wanted to keep whites out.
Related:
More at this DKos diary, Valley Swim Club: Day Two.
A wedding.We're not just attending. Anthony is performing the ceremony for our friends, a great straight couple who used to live in our city in Florida. Yet as we were packing and getting ready for some midwest marital fun, something rather odd hit me:
Anthony can legally officiate other people's weddings, but our marriage isn't legal in our own state (or the states he has married other couples in).
For some odd reason, the government recognizes my husband as able to legally bind others together, with all the rights and benefits that entails, yet he doesn't have the capacity to decide for himself who he should marry or be with. And in the few places we are viewed as married after our California nuptials, we still are cut off from the federal benefits of civil marriage. In our own home statme state, we are legal strangers, yet he can perform other's weddings.
What's wrong with this picture?
I personally think that you should be able to have whoever you choose perform your ceremony- whether it be religious figure, friends, family, or the cruise ship captain- just as I think you should be able to marry whom you choose. Others keep harping about the "sanctity" of marriage, yet for twenty bucks online you can get "ordained" and bestow the "sacred sacrament" of marriage on others.
It all just seems hypocritical and backwards.
It has nothing to do with actually performing the ceremonies. He happily married my sister and her husband and is now doing the same for our friends, but the obvious inequality of it all is staggering.
It seems the government and "traditional marriage" advocates (ugh) want to have their wedding cake and eat it too. Marriage is so holy and historic that you can do it in a drive-thru in Vegas or perform one after a quick online certificate, yet LGBT folks can't even get in on the party.
So we'll be happily celebrating our friends' wedding. I'm sure I'll cry, eat too much cake, and dance the macarena with the best of them. I'll just be doing it with someone the government doesn't recognize as my husband- the very man who has signed the paper allowing others to legally get married.
Pass the champagne...
The group highlights its new mission Saturday with "An Afternoon of Awareness," a free event aimed at promoting public discussion about transgender and transsexual issues. Part of Central Coast Pride, it's co-sponsored by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance of the Central Coast. "We're really trying to reach out to the community and educate the community," longtime member Doug Heumann said.One of the critical parts of outreach is reaching out to work with businesses that don't have experience addressing an employee who makes the decision to go public with their employer about transitioning. Graton recounted the experience with her supervisors.For transgender people, making the transition from one sex to the other can be expensive, stressful and emotionally draining. They risk alienating their families and losing their spouses and closest friends. Jobs are also at stake. "We want to be there to make this process as easy on them as we can," [Atascadero resident Kari] Graton said. "We want them to know that there are some people out there with compassion in their hearts."
<>"It was like the 'cone of silence' went down and everything got scrambled," she said, referring to the TV show "Get Smart." "They didn't know what to do."And that scenario plays itself out all around the country; in response Tranz-Central Coast created a PowerPoint education presentation for employers, along with resources like information pamphlets to share with local businesses.One official wanted Graton to keep her transgender identity secret until she left work to undergo surgery. Another suggested simply firing people who had a problem with Graton's transition from male to female.
"I said, 'Wait, I work with 200 people and I know them quite well,' " recalled Graton, an engineering technician for the county Department of Public Works and Transportation. "I don't want anybody to get fired. I'm not the only one transitioning here."
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