Happy #BlackHistoryMonth !
I'm still not talking about Black History. I'm talking about white US history. In other words, the story of racism.
Do you know that in the US, a Black 11 year old is *10 times* more likely to die by drowning, than a white child?
In a nation that ignores racism, folk believe that this is because Black folk "Don't swim well."🤦🏿♂️
It's 2023, and there are still folk that believe Black kids drown due to race, not racism.
1/N
In Cuba, Black folk "swim well." And Nigeria. And Jamaica. And Brazil. Stop me when you see the pattern.
File next to "Black folk can't see well in the dark!" and "Black folk aren't good at math and science!"
The sentences should start "In the USA..."
In the USA, most people learn to swim in swimming pools. Not in rivers, lakes, streams, quarries, or the ocean.
But people that can't swim, tend to think swimming pools are dangerous. The idea of lowering your baby into a pool, when you yourself can't swim, can be terrifying.
Many Black US parents don't know how to swim. So even if they have access to a pool, don't sign their kids up for swimming lessons.
But why can't the parents swim? Because their parents never signed them up for swim lessons either, because they also didn't learn.
Until we get all the way back to Jim Crow, lack of access, and straight up violent racism. Black folk in the US "Can't swim well" not because of anything intrinsic about Black folk, but because of how we treat them. Racism, not race.
Jim Crow, and intentionally racist public transportation policy, created this survival skill gap.
Alia Atkinson, world record holder in the 50m breaststroke, is from Jamaica, where many of these challenges have had more time to be mitigated.
🇯🇲👍🏿🥇
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A6PzbjtY_94
Black folk in Jamaica set sprint records on the track or in the pool.
We can undo the legacy of Jim Crow, but only if we know what it is, and understand how it affects US society today.
🧔🏻Black folk are silly for fearing cops!
🧔🏿Did you know that 1 in 1000 Black men will be killed by a cop?
🧔🏻...silly for not trusting healthcare!
🧔🏿3x more likely to die in childbirth?
🧔🏻...for fearing pools!
🧔🏿11 year olds are 10x more likely to drown?
Maybe... not so silly?
Instead of assuming that our thinking is right and that we have more information, and that Black folk are wrong because they have less information...
we could *listen* and understand.
Sometimes we have more info than someone else's lived experience, but most of the time we have much less.
If I said, "Too many Black kids are dying in Chicago. So we're allocating another $100 million a year to form a new 'tough on crime' police unit!" Most folk wouldn't bat an eye.
But if I said, "Too many Black kids are dying in Chicago. So we're allocating $10 million dollars to transport public school kids to pools for free swimming lessons!" Lots of folk would say, "I dunno, $10MM sounds like a lot, I'm going to need to see an itemized bill. Small government!"
Q: Why aren't there more public pools in the US?
A: Waitaminite. I bet it's RACISM!!!
Governments across the US closed public pools once forced to desegregate them. Something the Supreme Court decided was NOT a violation of equal protection in Palmer v. Thompson in 1971. Closure of public pools and opening of private "segregation pools" was as fast and dramatic as the opening of segregation academies for education.
@mekkaokereke The Philadelphia School District used to have more indoor pools at high schools but has had to close them over the years due to lack of funds.
mekka okereke 
Mx. Amadi Lovelace
jonathanpeterson
Jon Moore