Racism’s Cure Found in Private Sector
by Andrew BreitbartThis week’s Washington Times column:
The most unsettling news story of the last week came out of Philadelphia, where a group of black and Hispanic children of elementary-school age paid for the right to swim at a private suburban club and were denied the experience without cause and publicly humiliated in the process.
While the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton cry racism too often and make a mockery of their cause by exploiting events for their personal gain, sometimes old-fashioned bigotry does rear its ugly head in America.
In this instance, the Valley Club’s president confirmed our worst fears when he offered something far from an exculpatory explanation. “There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club,” John Duesler said in his initial statement.
Some campers claim to have overheard at least one parent fretting about the sudden influx of 65 minority children at the mostly white club.
True or not, these children were clearly wronged and it’s hard to believe that race didn’t play a significant part in their being tossed from the suburban club on their very first field trip.
Bigotry is not a partisan issue, and to be sickened by this story is the proper human response. America’s original sin of slavery and the stain of Jim Crow make a bad situation almost viscerally unbearable – and warrant a conclusive remedy. This, unfortunately, is our country’s long-term burden.
Many members of the private swim club, removed from its director’s idiotic move, now find themselves in the unenviable position of working round-the-clock to defend themselves and their previously unblemished club. Even neighbors of the institution have taken to the media to distance themselves from the awful act.
“I think they’re knuckleheads up there,” said John Fenton, a local. “I don’t know how you can do that to little kids.”
Whenever legitimate acts of bigotry occur, they should be exposed to the light of day. The media and the legal system – fueled by public outrage – can do the rest. In this case, substantial national and even international news coverage of the Valley Club incident is beginning the process of making the campers whole.
You can read the column in full here.
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178 Comments
"While racism does exist, it is no longer the natural order, nor is it representative of the majority. Otherwise, this story would not have played out the way it did."
EXACTLY!
Mr. Breitbart,
I think you're reading too much into it. Put yourself in the shoes of the members of the swim club. If you were one of them, how would you feel if the pool was inundated with sixty more kids from the ghetto or elsewhere? The club president made a mistake and then corrected it.
"Your comment must be approved by the site admins before it will appear publicly."
OK that’s it, let's try this word for word then, until we can narrow down just what constitutes the reason why civil conversation can be “moderated” to this extent.
This is happening more and more lately here at BH.
I’ll do it line by line until the “offending” word or words can be defined.
Here goes.
Andrew,
All is good buddy.
Just one small fact in your story has got to be mentioned though.
I’m not familiar with the area of the city being mentioned, (since I live in Kalifornia), However, I’ve read that John Duesler, is a stanch Obama supporter and contributor.
Today, I had the pleasure of a pool party full of kids,
(98% of them of “minority” backgrounds from school), over to play with my,
A legal contract is a legal contract, regardless of race or anything else.
"Many members of the private swim club, removed from its director’s idiotic move, now find themselves in the unenviable position of working round-the-clock to defend themselves and their previously unblemished club."
unblemished???
Breitbart you racist.
(white until they tan up), ————.
A great time for all.
little
that's it… the word for a male yute that is still small, as in b-y
You have Got to be kidding me?
Not Over.
This isn't fun anymore.
Not Over.
My entire first post without the "offending" word included:
Andrew,
All is good buddy.
Just one small fact in your story has got to be mentioned though.
I’m not familiar with the area of the city being mentioned, (since I live in Kalifornia), However, I’ve read that John Duesler, is a stanch Obama supporter and contributor.
Today, I had the pleasure of a pool party full of kids, (98% of them of “minority” backgrounds from school), over to play with my, (white until they tan up), little b-ys.
A great time for all.
And to think, the word on the street is that ALL conservatives are nothing but a gang of racists.
It would seem that the libtards are more fearful of “changing the complexion” of their social gathering than any of us “right wing radical extremists”
Not Over.
Geez…it worked.
Not Over.
Wow. Great column, but 1GooDDaDDy, my friend, that was diarrhea of the keyboard if ever I've seen it. Wait a little bit before you have your next freakout, dude/
I must admit, I haven't followed this story closely enough. It certainly is a shame that the Valley Club's president (and possibly others) appear to be a racists. I can't think of anyone who feels that is acceptable. On the other hand, I do believe a private club should have a right to admit whoever they choose regardless. One of the reasons clubs opened themselves up for suits is they tended to rent out their facilities to raise money (e.g. for wedding receptions etc.) If clubs don't do that, to me it is like free speech. You have a right to discriminate regardless of how despicable it may be. Therefore, I would rather see public pressure than legal action as a remedy.
I hear you. But, like a lot of other commenters have noticed and mentioned here lately, the "moderation" is becoming more severe as of late.
It's born out of frustration. There is no way of knowing what will be included or excluded anymore. I type my comments in a word processor first, then cut and paste them into the field, so it is understandable and concise. It takes time and effort.
When posted under the "Your comment must be approved by the site admins before it will appear publicly." they NEVER show up again, and there's no explanation.
Oh, and happy Sunday to all.
What about the Congressional Black Congress? Until what's good for the goose is good for the gander, I curse this filthy maggot swill!
I know what you mean…we're being moderated by a constipated prude, apparently, but count to 10 & make a sandwich…don't clog the badnwidth. ;-D
Read "The Big Black Lie-How I learned the truth about the Democrat Party" Kevin Jackson http://www.theblacksphere.net
Got a Ham and cheese right here.
Not Over.
No doubt the constipated prude is a "bot", but someone had to have put the "bad" words in.
B-oy?
It isn't that they were excluded so much as that their money was taken, the agreement was made, and everything was fine right up until they showed up to swim. That's when they weren't allowed anymore. If the club had refused to allow them to swim in the first place before the agreement was made, then your objection would have more weight with me, but saying yes and then blatantly changing your mind after you see your clients is an issue unless your clients are clearly behaving badly.
Uh huh.
(- checks to see if the sheets are missing -)
Yes, but then don't make the deal in the first place–present it to the membership and let them vote before you let the kids in. Private clubs are allowed to restrict membership, a la golf clubs or the Boy Scouts. It's a nasty situation, not helped by the club using the term "complexion." No heroes here except for the neighboring facilities that opened their doors to the kids.
65 kids in A pool, regardless what race, is TOO many!
4294967295 replies?! one for the books….
and i have been moderated of late and i didn't even use one of my favorite curse words.
>"there are no incentives in 21st-century America for racism, and there are fewer and fewer hiding places for bigotry's last holdouts."<
You'll need to masticate those words, Mr. Breitbart, once Ms. Sotomayor is confirmed to the SCOTUS.
Excellent piece Andrew. Its funny how the club's members come out of the woodwork to defend the kids right to be at the pool. The private sector came to help without any prodding from the government. Interesting.
Stafford what a tool.
I agree.
However.
If that was the problem the guy could have said… "The number of children exceeded the the number that could have swum safely."
Wow a racist plant. What an original idea! FYI, it's the left, your left, that categorizes everyone by race. Over here on the right each person is an individual.
Nice use of "swum." Is it certain that there was only one pool?
Heh.
If it's not a word, it should be. "Swimmed" is entirely unacceptable.
You must have had impure thoughts Patti!
I'm tired of white guilt, too. Got no time for that stupidity.
In this case, though, considering all of the obvious possibilities for legitimate reasons to turn kids around at the door… why on God's green earth did the fellow not just say there were too many kids all at once?
And seriously, how tone deaf do you have to be to not realize that "change the complexion…of the club" is a very poor choice of words?
This whole affair was a set-up from start to finish. I bet those involved were pretty disappointed that overt examples of racist behavior was limited to a mother worried about her little boy. Pathetically, all the race-baiters had in the end was the word 'complexion' to hang their accusatory hat on. A sudden influx of 65 boisterous urban kids of any color would have a negative impact on most any private suburban club, no matter the predominant race there, either. The cherry on top for me was the TV interview crew members' Obama t-shirts. As I've already said, the entire affair reeks of prior planning.
I try really hard not to accuse liberals as a group of things but… I have noticed a certain tone-deafness that conservatives don't suffer from. Liberals haven't been conditioned by constant accusations of racism to watch what they say as closely.
That's what the deal is with "code words". Conservatives are SO good at watching what they say that there aren't that many examples of racist language to get them on so it's all "code words".
(I'm not counting those who obviously racist or those who purposely and deliberately say things they know are not "PC" as a figurative "finger" to the stupidity of finding racial offense in everything possible.)
In any case… people used to being immune from those attacks and who think of themselves as most *obviously* on the right side of the issue because of the way they vote… IMO… certainly do seem to be terminally tone deaf.
I mean…. complexion? Egad.
That's easy to say when you don't have to deal with it. Like it or not, when you invite a large number of kids from the ghetto, you invite trouble.
can you imagine the grease?
Nonsense. The kids were too young to use the entire pool, so what they had was a medium sized pool that now had the members kids plus 60 more trying to play in 1/3 of the area. It was an unsafe situation. It might also be that the language being used by the kids on the field trip left a little to be desired, which might have prompted some parents to make complaints. Either way, the kids money was refunded, so the club did nothing wrong (other than make an extremely poor public statement).
Now if one of those kids had broken his neck in the overcrowded shallow end, then you'd hear complaints of racism and poor judgment by the club's owners screamed from the rooftops.
No, it's a malfunctioning piece of software that no one here wants to take responsibility for. You can make the same post twice and one time it will go through, the next time it'll be censored (and never show up with no explanation). If you complain to the contact listed for the site, you never hear back. It's half-assed and I hope they eventually decide to do something about it.
You're right and Andrew is dead wrong. These people are being painted as racists, but they obviously knew the races of the children when they agreed to let them participate. The problem was that there were too many kids, and some may have been acting inappropriately for the age of the kids in the shallow end. That's bad organization on the part of management, but that's hardly a crime. It's sad that the kids thought they had a fun activity that was then canceled, but since none of us were there (and you're certainly not going to hear any of the members come forward and accuse the kids of bad behavior now), to assume that it must have been racism at work is the worst kind of lazy thinking (not to mention giving the race-baitors exactly what they're looking for).
This is why I hardly post here lately. Too many issues with moderating and lost posts.
Considering this post supposedly has just over 4 billion responses, I think it's a fair bet that they're having technical issues (and no one to fix them).
I think "swum" is correct but you don't hear is very often. Maybe there's a left wing troll English professor (they don't allow right wing English professors) who can tell us what's correct.
"White tax payers even pay for a WHOLE COUNTRY JUST FOR J3WS – even after they attacked and murdered Americans! But Whites get nothing and pay for everything. "____Really,.. you can't be serious. the "J3WS"?____They made a deal, then backed out of it when they realized what they had done, shameful and stupid to bring the children there, then slam the door.____Suppose you had a contract with me to let your offspring use my playground, then when they arrived,. I gave them the boot in the rudest most heartless way possible? Would you care a damn about my "rights"? or about what I had done to your kids?____
and come on… "the ghetto troublemaker kids"?
they were children, not high school age juvie hall parolees out under armed guard for Christ's sake. Kids.. and I refuse, totally reject any CHILD is a lost cause before they even have a chance to speak. I grew up in a nearly all white neighborhood, so what? We have made a social agreement, among nearly all Americans that Dr. King was right, it's the content of your character, not your color that should be the ONLY mark of your advancement. We, most of us accept that any all one race club is wrong, if not illegal,. but then,. they NEVER CLAIMED TO BE AN ALL WHITE ONLY CLUB, did they?
they in fact deny it.
they lied, and a fat with cash Obama supporter is the one who excluded, so it's all about a lie, and ignorance after all.
I care not a damn wether those children came from the lowest NY burrough, or the loftiest perch in Valhalla, they were denied because they were different, and that lesson is one no child needs to learn.
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Why can't Liberals who hate Republicans find something better to do with their time? They figure Conservatives must be racists because of how racist they themselves are. If you want proof, just ask a Liberal about Alberto Gonzalez, Rice, or Clarence Thomas. They are more than happy to say bigoted things about minorities (or women) who disagree with them.
There is zero evidence this story is in any way true. Nothing but he said she said.There were three camps that were turned away. Any word about them? Never mind let's tar n feather,run them out of town,burn them at the stake! I don't believe it a good practice to accept at face value any smear against anyone! I hope the charge of racism does not come your way Andrew because I suspect there's a good chance you'd believe it.
Since none of us where there how can you state so confidently that there were too many kids or that they were acting inappropriately compared to other children?
Can't Jesse Jackson still blackmail the club for 90 grand to make his fat belly bigger?
So the club set itself up to look like a bunch of intolerant creeps? Because..that's good for its' image?
This whole story seems weird to me. First, from what I understood, the people who booked the kids were minorities. Then to have 65 plus kids in the pool? And they didn't close it to other groups at the same time? Something isn't being told correctly about this, just not sure what. Color may not even be a factor, it almost just sounds like crappy planning and a jerkwad who spoke to the media. At least that is what I hope.
I can't jump to your conclusion for the same reason I can't jump to any conclusion – I have no first-hand or reliable third-hand knowledge.
But I do agree with your opening statement: it's reasonable to assume that the manager knew the race of the kids when they were given access.
Which is why it's so ridiculous that it's even news. That's how our lovely, sensationalist fourth estate works: if I accuse you of stealing my tater tots, it's not news. If I accuse you of stealing my tater tots because I'm black, it's headline news.
Funny how those who rail against "white guilt" and demand "evidence" are quick to also say it's only natural to suspect "boisterous urban kids" will upset the order of things no matter the racial makeup of the social setting. This thinking IS prejudice, IS prejudging people, and about nothing but fear of "the other." When did bigotry ever seem anything but natural to the bigot? I agree with Andrew Breitbart — "to be sickened by this story is the proper human response."
I, for one, am proud of our private sector. It can easily outperform our public sector in performance, quality, and morality. It would be a crying shame if our private sector were ever to be replaced by our public sector.
…
When I do it, I start a post with "test" so people should know to ignore it, below goes the text being tested, then immediately after posting I hit the "Delete" whether it took it or not. Reduces the screen clutter.
The List So Far of blocked words is in another thread below.
I think the posts in the "must be approved" queue only have a certain amount of time to be approved before they automatically get flushed. That would make sense if this "one size fits all" comment system were used on some guy's little site, it would be bad if it got jammed up while he was on vacation, for example.
What? Greasepaint? You think they were white kids in blackface?
I am grateful I do not know enough to understand such ignorance.
Sounded like a setup from the beginning. Why weren't they going to a public pool? Most conservatives see through this and empathize with the members of the PRIVATE club, not the ghetto troublemaker kids. Funny, EVERY OTHER GROUP can have their own club…but NOT WHITES. White tax payers even pay for a WHOLE COUNTRY JUST FOR J3WS – even after they attacked and murdered Americans! But Whites get nothing and pay for everything.
I'm actually not sickened by the incident, because I have no reason – other than the accuser's claim – to blame the incident on race.
All we know is that the kids are 'minorities'. Somehow that ends the discussion. But what if, regardless of race, they were just obnoxious kids? Their leader was quick to jump on the 'racism' bandwagon, and in my experience the people who scream 'racism' at the drop of a hat are genuinely obnoxious people.
And in any case, isn't this a private club? I'm not banging on Curves' door because I can't go work out there. I'm not filing a federal lawsuit because I can't attend Howard University.
I think in the desire to appear NOT racist people tend to fall in line with the racists' claims of racism too quickly. That's how jackasses like Al Sharpton become millionaires.
Maybe I'm just a little 'raced' out right now. After seeing Michael Jackson turned into a successful smoke screen, seeing Obama's Africa trip turned into another one has pushed me right to the edge. Seriously, who cares? Soldiers are dying in Afghanistan, and Anderson Cooper and the CNN Obama crew are seriously devoting hours to "wondering how he feels" as he tours facilities that were devoted to slavery … hundreds of years ago. He has black skin. But he was never a slave. None of his family were slaves. He has no greater or more special tie to that nonsense than I do.
Our society is so easy to steer with white guilt. It's pathetic.
"The most unsettling news story of the last week came out of Philadelphia"
Say what? It appears to be a non story only fueled by the race baiters.
Here I thought the most unsettling story from last week is the one out of Akron Ohio where 50 black youths beat up a whilte family while shouting at them "It's a black world, etc." putting the father in the hospital in critical condition.
http://www.ohio.com/news/50172282.html
Now thats what I call racism!
I believe this is a valid example of the Scunthorpe problem.
Racism today is more politically correct, the lauguage of rasism is no longer socially acceptable, it is disguised in politics by code issues, they advocate states rights, the death penality and get tough on crime. They acknowledge blacks are now equal and claim that affirmative action is no longer needed, they are against assistance programs, equal opprotunity measures like college quotas, and desegregated schools. Republican Party is responsilbe for the creation of the new language and agenda, but the racists are up at arms because the more politically correct racism fails to teach the next generation to hate blacks, so much that we now have a black president.
Have you ever lived in a ghetto? I have. If these kids behaved anything like my former neighbors, it's hardly any wonder at all the club members were shocked and horrified.
Beyond parody.
If they were allowed to join they should be allowed to swim. This stinks. Those (few) members who objected to the new members of the swim club were capable of resigning. The Director was/is a boob.
Did the club president also agree to take money in exchange for the children to use the facilities?
If so, and if the children agreed to behave as per the club rules then this is a case of racism plain and simple.
Stafford if you are going to act like a psuedo-stereotype forum plant you need to reel in the hate, buddy. You're not fooling anyone the way it is now, we use you as Training Level 1 to help people sniff out the conservative smears.
Were all 65 using it at the same time? If so I see your point…
It is the past participle of swim : )
HHHR is making progress but still has a streak of venom going.
We agree on this though, 'to be sickened' is the proper *initial* response, but we are not animals to be ruled over by basic emotions. I agree the children were wronged based on what I have read but now I want to know if they were abiding by the club rules or if they thought they could do whatever they wanted once they got in.
If the club limited numbers of people in pools, or if it said 'no running' or if it said 'be quiet' and the kids repeatedly mobbed the pools and ran everywhere screaming their heads off then there is a problem. I'd penalize the kids by restricting them for a week while their parents or advisors straighten them out then give them another chance. (Oh yeah I read that it wasn't the kids who paid but their summer school/camp/whatever paid for it – $1900)
We don't know how long they were in the club, we don't know how many kids were in there at a time, we don't know the club rules. I'd like to know all that before I cement my opinion.
I need more information. On the surface, something certainly stinks, but were the kids just being obnoxious? I'll withhold judgment for the time being.
Racism occurring above the Mason-Dixon line – hmmm… I didn’t think that was possible, especially in the highly evolved area of Philadelphia, PA …just can’t be, can it? Along with the intimidation of voters by the Black Panthers at the polls in Philadelphia, PA …what’s the deal? Maybe they misreported …it was actually Philadelphia Mississippi at a “private” …club, and the people intimidating voters were the KKK?
CONTRACT not INVITE
There are a lot of kids from my suburb who are pains in the butt, and one of my dearest friends is from the ghetto, so that kind of generalization doesn't make sense to me.
You got that right!
There were other camps? Do you have a link?
Hey Stafford, you are an i diot. As a one of these "Jewish" people you believe are killers you can go s crew yourself you bigot. I'd like to see a punk like you say something like that to my face you little nazi wimp.
IF I were a member of a private swim club and the officers decided to "rent it out" to ANY swarm of kids of ANY color, I would rip the officers a new one. What about private don;'t they understand?
Who cares…..so they got turned away…quit crying.
I am with you on that. In fact, any kid is a pool is annoying. That is why I have my own.
You have nailed it. I am of the opinion that the press had this story grooved, such that we will never really know what happened.
Face it, the story as presented is juicier than if it was a simply misunderstanding or mistake.
The problem is we will never really know "The Story." If this turned out to be OK, who would read about it.
Ditto on this. Where I came from, I couldn't get away fast enough.
You of course, don't have a racist bone in your body. Must be nice.
Ah, they didn't join the club. Back to grammar school with you.
Believe it or not, not every business is populated with people who are media-savvy. Sometimes ordinary people sound quite stupid when they are quoted in the national news. Chances are the person in charge doesn't have a degree in public-relations. Stick a camera (or 50) in the average person's face and chances are something will be said that can be construed in a negative way.
Yes. Didn't join, the pool was dangerously over-crowded, and their money was refunded. Then again, because Andrew doesn't bother to relay the facts, people who didn't get the chance to read the original story have no choice but to assume the facts are as he's relaying them.
I think the low moment was Andrew's comment about the Club being in a "Settling mood." Perfect….so because they overbooked and had a situation that could have been dangerous (especially legally), we're now encouraging people to sue? That's what it's come to? Conservatives looking forward to a lawsuit to address the pain of a field trip being canceled?
This column has "Oops" written all over it. Hopefully Andrew reads the facts and does a retraction.
I think the low moment was Andrew's comment about the Club being in a "Settling mood." Perfect….so because they overbooked and had a situation that could have been dangerous (especially legally), we're now encouraging people to sue? That's what it's come to? Conservatives looking forward to a lawsuit to address the pain of a field trip being canceled (with a full refund)?
This column has "Oops" written all over it. Hopefully Andrew reads the facts and does a retraction.
Ron MUST be talking about a bribe taken in order for the swim club's mgmt to allow 60+ kids to come in and use the pool in addition to all those ALREADY using the pool. Yes, he MUST mean that sort of "grease".
Jesse's the smaller of the two hucksters. Al Sharpton has lost some weight but he is still bigger than Jesse.
Yep, and it's the City of Brotherly Love too.
May Valley go broke.
I belonged to a resort that catered to the middle class and below. I had to quit because every time I took my nine-year old daughter swimming, the language children her age were using was making me cringe (not because of her, it would have made Andrew Dice Clay cringe). Anyone who comments about stereotyping children from the inner city's language has obviously never left the comfort of their Liberal neighborhood. Kids who were raised listening to Tupac don't see anything wrong with using more F-bombs than verbs.
In case anyone thinks that makes me racist, my daughter (half-Hispanic) attends a Hispanic, dual-language school that is beautiful and has virtually no problems. Foul language and bad behavior is not part of someone's racial makeup, but years of being treated like helpless victims have turned many neighborhoods into places where bad behavior is the norm.
I agree with Andrew Breitbart — "to be sickened by this story is the proper human response."
This statement alone should convince Andrew that he's 100% on the wrong side of the argument (especially from a troll with a username like that).
The List So Far
Examples posted are using a single letter in italics to bypass automatic filtering.
Any part of the word in another word causes rejection.
anal – blocks analogy, banal etc
banned
bitch
boy – blocks boyish etc
breitbart
cross – blocks across etc
dick
fag – blocks faggot etc
jew – blocks jewelry etc
math
And that misspelling of that African country where you use two "gees" instead of one.
Yeah….That'll teach 'em for being concerned about the safety of having close to a hundred kids crammed into an area designed for 10 – 15. Let's hope they go out of business and are sued personally so their home lives can be ruined as well.
Seriously, WTF? Did this site get bought by the Daily KOS while we were sleeping?
Right now… I'm kind of up in the air on what to say about this one..
a) "There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club," – What was missing in the quote? The president of the pool-club (or whatever it's called), simply referred to the "a lot of kids"… in this case, the missing quote part is very important here.
b) "Some campers claim to have overheard at least one parent fretting about the sudden influx of 65 minority children at the mostly white club." – this one I can see as being the noteworthy comment, and the _parent_ who made this comment should be taken to task, providing this comment was heard in context?
Odd that this would happen in a northern city. Any mention of racism is supposed to reflexively invoke a reference to the South. Someone certainly goofed here.
No. He means ghetto grease. Like when a motorboat leaks oil in the water. You can see that rainbow coalition of colors floating on top.
Al Sharpton is going to eat the club.
The Club also has a contract with it's members.
I'm imagining adding 65 children to a pool, that seems a signigicant number. If I had paid for a membership and then found the pool so filled with people that my use of the pool was then limited, I might well want a remedy. I also know how all children behave around swimming pools. It is the one place in society where the rules are out the door and children freakin' sceam and run with no regard to anyone else.
Of course, we dont know the size of the pool, or the hearts of the members who complained. or if they would have complained had 65 white children come running through the gate.
The fact that the racial nature of this issue has come to light seems reasonable, and we can only hope that fairness prevails in the end.
I agree with James who commented that the biggest news on racism last week was out of Akron, Ohio, on the Fourth of July. White family celebrating the day attacked by mob of black teens yelling "this is our world, this is a black world". The father was hospitalized, and the family traumatized. Where is the NAACP, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, President Obama , ACLU?????? 65 kids denied admittance to private club's swimming pool is racism at its worst, but 50 black teens viciously attack an innocent white family celebrating a Fourth of July is just random violence???? That is what I call selective indignation.
Look, they wanted to make a little x-tra money with a real little x-tra thought. Amazing how it came to bite them in the butt. Don't worry a simple clause has them all protected by being sued personally- if they joined a board w/ out it they're triple stupid.
Anyway, I meant "go broke" by failing to do a good job. That's how it works.
Better off creating a swim team or tennis team for dough.
why…..(head thumping wall, repeatedly)…why, don't more people get this?
The Valley Swim Club signed a contract with the day care center. Whether the VSC knew the parentage of the children is not material. I don't know, but I would assume the fee paid by the day care center was for up to a given number of children, so the VSC shouldn't claim ignorance.
It's also my understanding that the VSC signed contracts with other groups.
I'm assuming the VSC didn't do a good job of letting their members know that a largish group of children would be using the facility.
That the VSC chose to cater to the bigotry of one or more of the members rather than try to negotiate a compromise or stick with their contract shows the inherent emotional weakness of the American leftist.
To American leftists, bigotry is a crime unless they are directly involved with dealing with the people for whom they claim concern, then the true nature of the American leftist shows through. It is THEY who are the true bigots and hate mongerers.
In my experience it is the leftist who is the NIMBYist.
You haven't been to the Main Line or Society Hill areas of Philly, have you?
Seriously, department stores will play gentler non-ethnic versions of Rihanna songs sung by distinctly white singers in order to avoid offending the delicate sensibilities of their clientele.
Oddly enough, if you go searching for the the multitude of articles that exist on this incident, you'll find some of them omit the Hispanic kids from the story. Some go for it and claim only republicans were the bigots in the incident. Who needs Sharpton and Jackson when there's the media?
Not true. Depends on the size of the pool. There are plenty of private pools that can easily sustain several hundred kids at once. The manager of the club said he was concerned about there being a 10-1 ratio of swimmers to lifeguards. Checking out other sources says that 25-1 or even 15-1 in extreme cases is plenty of lifeguards to manage the number of swimmers.
I'm with you, not enough of the story to make a clear case.. Andrew was trying to make a point about racism and society being a better handler than government, but neglected to illucidate all of the facts.. I'm not sure who is guilty or if anyone is guilty, it is just assumed that they are in the grand wizards media whitch hunt..
The use of the word "complexion", while either a freudian slip or completely innocent is not damning in and of itself and if the club president is an Obummer supporter to begin with then the whole notion of racial guilt would appear to fall flat..
Atheist Con wrote:
"And in any case, isn't this a private club? I'm not banging on Curves' door because I can't go work out there. I'm not filing a federal lawsuit because I can't attend Howard University."
Actually, when I attended Howard back in the 90s, I did see a growing number of White and Asian students in class. It wouldn't shock me if the trend has continued into this century.
Hence, you would not be the only White guy attending Howard.
I want to see a followup of this column when we know all of that facts.
If the man/manager wanted to make an ethnic funny, he would have avoided the word "complexion", UNLESS he thinks he is one of those really sly fookers who thinks his bon mots are real eye winkers that only his pals will get.
Ah, who cares. Racism is over-rated. I wouldn't want a lot of screaaming kids and teens in my pool no matter what race they were. Give 'em a hose or a hydrant or a Slip n Slide by Wammo!
wrong again andrew, give up bud.
"Racism's Cure Found in Private Sector"
I think this notion has much merit. If you consider the darwinian aspect of competition & capitalism-in-theory, then any form of un-practical bias, including racism, is DAMPENED and disencouraged by the marketplace environment.
I was impressed by the author's basic premise here. In trying to read the article more deeply, he tries to go places with his point that I'm less in agreement with… but I like the title.
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Swim-Cl...
What? I can't use the word jew? That isn't a bad word. Jews use it to describe themselves. There's no other appropriate word that can be used as a substitute.
It is amazing that you can't use j** — there's no other reasonable word to use to describe one of the Hebrew faith. Members of that faith use the word themselves. It isn't considered a slur.
Legal contract is a legal contract,except when it applies to the exbondholders of GM & Chrysler or to upholding an oath to defend the Constitution.
I agree with 'Our society is so easy to steer with white guilt. It's pathetic'….this is one of the few pathetic articles I've read from Andrew. The Reality is likely to be very different than the lazy press has reported. Andrew sounds like anothe victim of thw White Guilt kind….jeez.
That is a CROCK!!!! every person in some aspect or another is racist!!!!! I could care less what anyone says….
but, like you said Bruce if it is true…. it HAS to be nice
Lizanne needs to report to the Dept of Sarcasm. Maybe Liz should change its major to parody?
I cannot accept any of this, the only reason why there are NO FACTS!!!! Sharpton/Jackson?Black Panthers/NAACP and all of the others stand on there soap box with NO FACTS.. and lash out against anyone they do not see eye to eye with… look at the poor kids from the DUKE lacrosse case (I know the three of them) there lives have been affected to the point they had to change everything that they where doing….. schools/jobs and even the one family had to move.. just becasue a few people took it upon themselves to beat a horse to death without any facts….. this is the same thing…. but if it is true, something needs to be done!!!
Well, I'm glad you made it up and out. Never look back. Be shocked and horrified. You've "earned" it. Kids will be kids, always. And so will those who pat themselves on the back and divide themselves from everyone else. Do you live in a gated community?
And of course it is so important to have a cemented opinion.
Your number of comments on this one article suggest that you are overly invested in proving, at least to yourself, that you are totally 100 percent correct in your view. And the huge percentage of slurs, insults, etc. would, in any real social setting, make you a pariah instead of a holder of 72 positive points. It takes a troll to know one. HaHaHa.
True or not… Pardon? Maybe a little research or a little time should be let to occur before pushing this story as some continuation of the national shame that is (or was) racism.
Remember, kids, don't eat for 30 minutes before swimming… or do acid and then post here.
Do forgive. I stand corrected. I reviewed your comments on this, and there is indeed nothing you would consider a "slur." Of course you do talk about "professional race-victims." And you do "wonder" why all liberals are racists. But no, no slurs from you. You do seem overeager to explain away any suggestion of racism. Makes me think of Newt's remark about "no one in this room (or was it this party)" being an owner of slaves, so of course there's no anti-black bias, it's all in people's warped minds. Well, my particular slant on things is that all people are pretty much equal. Some spend vast amounts of energy denying it. Many take the high and low roads all at once, using sophisticated words to express and defend unsophisticated prejudices. Each new generation looks for it to be different, and finds it isn't. Still, the hate machine that's been revved up in the past few years continues to shock. And these comments, not all by you (I stand somewhat corrected), are pretty hateful in the main. That's why I chose such a provocative user name. It certainly brought out the pitchforks.
"and ran everywhere screaming their heads off"
Not just screaming, but screaming language that would curl sailors' toes, if my own experience applies. HHHR apparently is of the opinion that it's "racist" to expect people, or at least minorities, to behave like civilized human beings. Perhaps it's HHHR who is the closet racist…..
Again, HHHR: have you ever lived in a ghetto? Or do you just have some vague media-informed concept of what you think one is like?
Perhaps. However, if the kids concerned (and we simply don't know at this stage), IF the kids concerned repeatedly and flagrantly violated the pool's safety and conduct rules, then said contract could be held to have been breached. I promise you, every pool (public and private) has lists of rules, with a 'chuck-you-out' proviso attached.
Doofus:
The minority kids were going to a public pool but because of budget cutbacks they shut the pool.
TV Tropes, another sign of the decline and coming fall of Western Civilization by the destruction of the English language. Just when I thought we barely made it through first the acronym soup of the growing internet then the hammering of strange abbreviations and "spellings"with "leet" posters and texting, now we have the modularization of whole intricate concepts into short phrases where they will be mismatched and deprecated while freely constructed into impenetrable sentences untranslatable by those who are not "in the know."
Going by the examples seen after following the link, this is a half-hearted and not fully implemented version. I think after the disastrous upgrade they fixed as they could to get it (usually) working again, then brought back up other parts from the old system without really thinking if they were needed or even worked that great to begin with.
No offense, but this comes across as feel-good anti-racism. A generation of white children has been brought up to believe that they can't jump, run, box, dance, make popular music (or if they do make popular music, it is only because it is Of Black Origin), can't succeed "at the expense of non-whites", and that they are stained with the original sin of racism. Make that a national issue and we'll start getting a sense of proportionality about this.
Andrew, if we'd left the prosecution of racist acts up to the private sector, do you really think we'd have made the progress we've made in the last three or four decades? Sounds lilke wishful thinking to me.
At the same time, I'm not convinced just yet that racism was behind the actions at this swimming pool. The story fits a liberal template, no doubt; whether it is truly an example of racism is far from certain.
It's sad that conservative blogs inevitably attract racist smartasses. That taints all of us with the same brush.
Because I read the AP article when it actually happened, not the fallout after all the professional race-victims got involved. They described the size of the pool, the size of the area the kids were allowed to play in (unless they had swimming certifications), and the number of kids there. When you see the facts involved, you see how painfully stupid it is to attribute this problem to racism.
On Dennis Miller's show two weeks ago, Andrew said that he often waits until the last second to write his column. Evidently, the people who run this club are the lucky recipients of his lack of time to fact-check.
First off, we are talking about a private club, not public money. They have freedom of association, guaranteed by our way of life in this country.
The deals to allow the kids to swim were made over the Internet. This is an obvious set up by a group of blacks who don't have the brains to start their own club. Their goal is to harass Swim Club with law suit after law suit after law suit after law suit – as if justice is going to result. This is a form of the basic Cloward-Piven (http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/07/palin... Alinsky, Jackson, Sharpton strategies: for the left to overwhelm its opponents with court time and costs.
Image is irrelevant. 70% of black kids don't have fathers. By the second generation 50% of Hispanic kids don't have fathers. Every White, Hispanic and Asian family has a right to protect their children from ghetto potty mouth, bullying and rape.
Liberals, please put your money where your mouth is. Move into the blackest ghetto you can find with your 9 – 14 year old daughter or niece. Then make her walk alone at least 5 block back and forth to and from school.
The parent who made this comment should be taken to task? After 65 suddenly show up? When even BLACKS worry when they look behind them and see another black walking up on them? I say again, "Filthy maggot swill!"
I have to say that this GREAT COUNTRY cannot allow this to happen…. the bad thing is, you get the whistle blowers like Sharpton and Jackson ALL TO MUCH…. and also, the NAACP….. I would commend them for sticking up in this situation…… but, I have a bad taste in my outh from all of the BS stands they make….I want these kids to have a voice for standing up or sticking up for them…… I think what has happened to these children is reprehensible and something should be done!
Just to turn the table, what about the DUKE LACROSSE case…. they cried wolf and it came out the boys had did nothing really wrong… I know the three kids that this happened to and there life have CHANGED for the worse because of the situation they had to go through….Sharpton/Jackson/BLACK PANTHERS and now they where vindicated and nothing was done in there behalf… just another BS stand for masses on there side… another BAD TASTE!!!
Andrew, thanks for another great article!
That CAN'T be racism. The victims weren't BLACK. The "alleged" perpetrators were. That obviously was a setup by those racist whites who probably attacked those 50 blacks without any provocation whatsoever and then tried to blame them! I'm sure that Akron Law Enforcement will soon charge those despicable white racists with hate crimes for this whole farce!
I'd love to see an example of a "slur" I've used on this or any other thread. The word troll on the internet specifically refers to people who post for the sole purpose of starting fights. I use the same nickname on every board I've ever posted to (and I write under the same pseudonym), whereas you chose an insult as your username. I'd say we pretty much have nothing in common.
As for the number of posts, I am a firm believer in the Dennis Prager motto, "First tell the truth, then give your opinion." In this case, there were too many children for the shallow end of the pool, so they canceled the field trip and refunded the money. If you think that proves them to be racist, then you can defend that opinion, but Andrew's column and a number of posters didn't have the actual information from the incident, which is why I responded to them.
the modularization of whole intricate concepts into short phrases
Unless I'm mistaken, the codification of general cases from a collection of specific cases is among the purposes of language. I don't see what your objection is, other than that the site is rather sloppily put together.
Again someone who only read 1/2 the story. Only 1/3 of the pool was available for all the kids. The deeper 2/3 has a requirement for a swimming credential that none of the kids had, so the entire group (plus all the member's young children) were crammed into 1/3 of a medium-sized pool. I don't care how many lifeguards you have, that's just stupid and asking for an injury.
Don't worry, he's really a Liberal trying to prove to his friends that Conservatives are all racists. Sadly, these people lack the tact to remotely make their games challenging.
Ah, here is the "lost reply" that was showing up on my ID page but not with the article.
As you can see you can use the word and it will make it through, after irritating the administration. While a small sample, offhand it looks like the initial list was drawn up by a "politically sensitive" recent college graduate who did not like certain "possibly offensive" Judeo-Christian words among others. What did they do, study Southern stereotypes? ("Hey boy, get over here!" Who knew The Waltons were such blatant racists?) Of course I might be assuming too much…
Next time, as soon as you post if you get "must be approved" (or "in moderation" if it was an Edit) hit the Delete immediately, the note that you made a reply and the Delete option goes away if you refresh. Copy your entire post to Notepad etc before Posting since it will be unavailable if it is held up. Do "test posts" where you Post then Delete chunks of the comment to find the word it does not like. Then just use HTML notation to put a single letter in italics as above to successfully Post. You can use "Jew" that way, no problem.
If there is something truly offensive, someone will hit the Report button eventually. Which is really the only system needed around here.
Interesting that when you think of minority, only black comes to mind. In my world, Asians, Hispanics, and other minority groups are the same.
That aside, you make some valid points, but muddy it up with more sloppy truth-telling. First, you assume that when I say "professional race-victims" I must be putting down minorities. Nothing could be further from the truth. As I said, my daughter is 1/2 Hispanic (which is the same as our President is black), and I am not raising her (nor would I accept from her) the attitude that she's constantly a victim of someone else's racism. I made a description of an attitude, not of a people. Here in Chicago, it's very common, and very self-destructive as well (although not for the politicians and other leaders who profit greatly from using that to teach people nothing they do matters because someone will always be trying to keep them down).
Also, I never said "All" Liberals were racists, I referred to Liberals who hate Republicans and assume (and if you watched The Odd Couple, you'd know why that's a bad idea) they are all racists. In my experience, Liberals (at least those in the mainstream) are far more eager to use racist, sexist, or class insults to put down people who they assume should share the Liberal philosophy (which is racist in and of itself to assume you can know what a person's values are based on what they look like). As an Independent I don't feel any necessity to defend a political ideology or party, only point out when someone is full of it. I agree that some of the posts get out of hand here, but if you compare it to the bile on HuffPo, KOS, or Daily Beast, you'll see this place is practically an island of civility.
BTW, I could probably garner some attention if I took the username "LibsAreChildMolesters," but it doesn't mean it was something I should be proud of. If you want a real discussion of ideas, this place isn't a half-bad starting point. However, you might want to give a little more respect to the people here if you expect some in return (not me necessarily, my politics aren't exactly in the mainstream here either).
!2 replies to the racist, anti-Semitic post and not one person agreed. I guess were not at the DailyKos.
12 replies to the racist, anti-Semitic post and not one person agreed. I guess were not at the DailyKos.
"The eradication of racism in this country has best transpired when the media exposes the bad behavior and private citizens act to remedy it."
Amen. I never understood the concept of forcing (by law) people to not be racist. The law can only affect people's actions, not their thoughts.
Shaming people, on the other hand…
I've said for a long time that professional sports have done so much to mend race relations in this country that it makes the NAACP, Jackson, and Sharpton totally irrelevant.
I don't know, I never saw the dimensions of the pool. I can say the community pool I went to as a kid could easily accomodate that many and more kids in 1/3 of the pool.
My only point is the 10-1 ratio argument doesn't hold. Too many kids for a small area is a different reason. So let's say you are correct. Wouldn't that something that would come up in the contract discussions? ie How many kids? How much supervision? How many are deep end certifiied? How many campers can be in the pool at one time?
It is more than simply collecting cases, as specific ones get "fitted" into a certain concept at the loss of specific details. While not quite as bad, it is similar to all the things being classified as "eco-friendly" therefore good, which may or may not be the actual case. And it is still a form of labeling, just with more nuances than liberal-standard.
As known from programming, modular units can be good, but there can also be significant problems when you assemble a stack of such units that may or may not match up fine, and even though such units are available already made a simple custom job may be what you actually need, will take up less space with less effort and less processing time needed.
This could be an example if the trend continues. "So-and-so is a Presbyterian Minister who leaped over the banister when he shouldn't have let it fly over the transom since he ended up shooting the dog." And that is a simple example, perhaps you can recognize it as "He is a prude who should have thought before commenting, now he just looks mean." Who knows where that trend could lead?
Wow…as probably the only person of color who follows this blog and responds, I'm pretty disappointed (but sadly not surprised) about the fact that so many are claiming the minority kids must have been obnoxious and rowdy. If you read the club's manager's interviews, he says the kids that came that day were acting normally and respectfully.
Also, I'm sorry, but as person of color, all it takes is hearing one person say they need to protect their child from me or my children and I have the "color" of their feelings or prejudice towards me. That's enough to let me know the atmosphere is not safe for me or mine.
I feel bad about laughing at the "rainbow coalition of colors floating on top" portion of your comment. But I guess it's OK since I actually VOTED for Jesse Jackson in the primaries back when I was a 20-something useful idiot.
Think how it must feel to be a LIBERAL blog site! Most posters there run the risk of being tainted by the occassional moderate!!
For a guy who was never a victim of slavery, and whose family was never a victim of slavery, Obama sure seems willing enough to yoke everyone else to the harness of servitude. Taxes will be rising, inflation will be here soon, our posterity will be working to pay off the nat'l debt for generations to come. For every 8 hours I now work, HALF of it is going to someone else. And I have practically NO PERSONAL DEBT as of this moment!!!!!
No, but Reverend "reject middle-classness" Wright does!
Is that what Sonia Sotomajor told you?
Why was Miguel Estrada deemed less qualified than Sonia Sotomajor to sit on the SCOTUS?
You choose "provocative user names" because you are intellectually lazy and emotionally immature. Name-calling is the last refuge of a juvenile.
There should be gentler "non-ethnic" versions of a LOT of R&B/hip-hop music so as to avoid giving black girls the idea that boys will only like you if you have a lot of unprotected sex with them. Boys need to stop getting the idea that being a bad*ss and shooting other blacks or robbing stores for $300 sneakers is something to aspire to.
How's THAT for "delicate sensibilities"?
The NAACP/ACLU/hucksters would only come out if one of the attcking mob's number had been offended by their victims or had been bitten by the family dog.
Actually on his father's side there may have been "victims" of slavery as it has long been practiced within Africa, despite apparent liberal beliefs that white people invented it. Note I said "practiced" as it still goes on over there, long after we "white people" abandoned it.
[...] this piece written by Andrew Breitbart in the Washington Times and regurgitated on his Web site Big Hollywood: The most unsettling news story of the last week came out of Philadelphia, where a group of black [...]
It does seem ironic that there are a substantial number of blacks attracted to Islam when it was primarily adherents of Islam that captured and sold blacks into slavery. It was Christian principles that led to the abolition of slavery, and we are the only country that freed our slaves after recognizing the error of our ways.
It's almost as ironic as staying in a hated and despised country when one is freely able to leave and there are so many other countries to choose from in which to live.
Eh, I would not make much of that connection since slavery in Africa existed long before Islam came into being, everyone was enslaving anyone they could get.
I don't understand why these far-left liberals stay here either.
Exactly, sir. I happened into this cesspool blog a few days ago, drawn by this particular essay by Breitbart, because of the title — what, I wondered, did "private sector" have to do with more effectively reducing racism.
I registered, with a deliberately provocative user name, and the pitchforks came out, though my comments paled in comparison to the bile that is spewed here.
I live in Jersey City, in a neighborhood that has everything from well-kept single-family homes to fairly well-kept tenements. Most people are middle and lower middle class, but some are upwardly mobile young professionals and some are new immigrants from Mexico. So we have some who are well paid, and some who are struggling. Overall, the neighborhood is majority Spanish — Puerto Rican and Domincan — but everyone is represented. Black people, Indian women in saris.
Somehow we live in peace, mostly. It's a live and let live mood on the streets, and I've lived here and liked it for 28 years. As gay men living together, my partner and I have never been harassed. We've only heard some people say to our neighbors, in Spanish, "how can you live next door to those ——" And our neighbors have, quite rightly, told them that they should mind their own business.
At any rate, I'm not going to be a regular visitor to this blog. The people who comment seem to live in a world of fear and hate, constantly on the lookout for anyone who might be infringing on their god-given rights to be as misanthropic as they want to be. Their racisim is so ugly. People of color are suspect at all times, to them, and white people's motivations in all things are not to be questioned.
I can't waste any more of my time educating myself on the lengths they will go in their rhetoric to attack "professional race-victims" and mischaracterize others' motives. Their battle lines are drawn.
As a media professional, I'm sad that the news business has fallen on hard times, mostly due to mismanagement of resources, not due to insufficient conservatism. I'm pleased and enthused that there are a million voices out there blogging, but less enthralled with everyone going only to sites where everyone hates in the same way, and then egging each other on and dismissing all other points of view.
The most recent reply that I've received to a post called me "intellectually lazy" and a few other things, and then said that name calling is juvenile. Then came a rant about Alberto Gonzalez and Ms. Sotomayor, neither of whom I've mentioned in any post. This is the level of discourse here — obsessed, fixated, lacking in self-awareness.
And so, after I read the inevitable damning responses this posted replay will get, I will cancel out, unsubscribe, and never come back. I too am disappointed and sadly not surprised by the responses this essay has prompted. These people are in no way interested in creating or maintaining an atmosphere that is safe for you and yours, or myself and anyone I care to associate with. Sorry to go on so long, but it is indeed a farewell of sorts and I thought it would post it in reply to a seemingly sane individual instead of singling out any of the crazies.
You're not the only one, my friend.
Racism needs to end in America
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