SHOCK: Sixty Black Kids from Creative Steps Day Camp in NE Philadelphia, Kicked Out of Privately-Owned Valley Swim Club

UPDATE

The club has issued a statement and Senator Arlen Specter said that he will launch an investigation into the discrimination claims.

The Valley Club is deeply troubled by the recent allegations of racism, which are completely untrue.

We had originally agreed to invite the camps to use our facility, knowing full well that the children from the camps were from multi-ethnic backgrounds. Unfortunately, we quickly learned that we underestimated the capacity of our facilities and realized that we could not accommodate the number of children from these camps. All funds were returned to the camps and we will re-evaluate the issue at a later date to determine whether it can be feasible in the future.

Our Valley Club deplores discrimination in any form, as is evidenced by our multi-ethnic and diverse membership. Whatever comments may or may not have been made by an individual member is an opinion not shared by The Valley Club Board.

So, again I have to ask, what arrangements did the camp director and the club make? Was there any mention of how many kids the club could accommodate?

SHOCK: More than 60 campers from Northeast Philadelphia were kicked out of Valley Swim club, a private club, perhaps for no other reason but because of the color of their skin. Dymire Baylor, one camper from the Creative Steps Day Camp, said in an interview with NBC Philadelphia, "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." Did anyone else hear those comments? The swim club needs to release a statement for their actions because this is a serious matter that looks racist.

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. "I said, 'The parents don't want the refund. They want a place for their children to swim,'" camp director Aetha Wright said. Source: NBC Philadelphia

I don't want to jump the gun, but the club needs to release a statement supporting their actions. On the face, their actions seem patently racist. If they continue to maintain silence on the matter, the only plausible conclusion is that their actions were racist and people need to send a message to them that racism will not be tolerated one iota. Now if there were too many kids and they weren't behaving, then that could constitute a viable reason why they were asked not to come back. I would like to hear more about the agreement between the club and Creative Steps Day Camp.