Local Life Lesson: Kansas City Solves Swimming Pool Systemic Racism?!?

Actually . . . We'd argue that swimming pools also discriminate on the basis of class as well. 

However . . .

There's no denying that public & private swimming pools have a complex history in the U.S. and spark a great deal of resentment. 

As for TKC . . . We don't like occupying any position downstream from strangers and so our backyard inflatable pool for one is as far as we'll venture . . . With the help of water wings.

Meanwhile . . . Here's a nice effort to emerge from the abyss of history . . . 

Numbers from the USA Swimming Foundation show 64% of Black children have low or no swimming ability, compared to 45% of Hispanic children and 40% of Caucasian children.

Experts point to public swimming pools’ history of segregation that’s led to barriers to swim lessons."In many communities, people don’t like to discuss their trauma," Social Responsibility Manager Gene Willis said. "So then you have multiple generations of people who are looking at water and pools with trepidation, with apprehension.

"A fear of water or drowning may be inherited. The USA Swimming foundation study showed that if a parent doesn’t know how to swim, there’s only a 13% chance the child will learn.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

200 Black and brown children get free swimming lessons, and safety, in Kansas City, Kansas

Michelle Slaughter treasures her memories of summers at the only public pool in Kansas City, Kansas. But she never learned to swim. And she wants her grandchildren to have the crucial skill. So, this week she took seven of her grandkids to Parkwood Pool, the place she enjoyed so much as a kid, so they could learn what she didn't: how to swim.

200 KCK elementary students get free swim lessons to address disparity

KANSAS CITY, Kan. - About 200 students started receiving swim lessons and swim equipment on Tuesday at the Parkwood Pool in Kansas City, Kansas. It's the same pool where a 13-year-old boy drowned last summer . The "Learn to Swim" program was thanks to a partnership among GEHA, the YMCA, the Unified Government and KCK Public Schools.

Developing . . .