If you're my age, you know that once upon a time racism was W-A-A-A-A-A-A-Y more overt and pronounced than it is now. In fact, many times of late I've been tempted to tell anyone within listening distance that it's time to STFU about racism. I'd grown tired of the constant racial whining. "Boo hoo! I'm an oppressed minority! I'm being held back by The Man."
Whatever. That was then. Get over it.
And I really believed it to be true that we were, in fact, a post-racist society. After all, we DID elect a half-Black President, right?
Then I read this.
More than 60 campers from Northeast Philadelphia were turned away from a private swim club and left to wonder if their race was the reason.Are you eff'ing kidding me?!?!?!?!
"I heard this lady, she was like, 'Uh, what are all these black kids doing here?' She's like, 'I'm scared they might do something to my child,'" said camper Dymire Baylor.
The Creative Steps Day Camp paid more than $1900 to The Valley Swim Club. The Valley Swim Club is a private club that advertises open membership. But the campers' first visit to the pool suggested otherwise.
"When the minority children got in the pool all of the Caucasian children immediately exited the pool," Horace Gibson, parent of a day camp child, wrote in an email. "The pool attendants came and told the black children that they did not allow minorities in the club and needed the children to leave immediately."
The next day the club told the camp director that the camp's membership was being suspended and their money would be refunded.
If you told me that something like this had happened in, say, 1966, I wouldn't be surprised. Even if you told me it had happened in 1978 I wouldn't be all that surprised. But in 2009?!?!?!?!?
Are you eff'ing kidding me?!?!?!?!
These people at the swim club are assholes. Total assholes. Thanks for setting the cause of a color-blind society back about 4 decades, you sorry sons of bitches!
UPDATE: And the racism goes on - this time it's the black-on-white version.
