If (and I do say if) the "complexion" quote and the circumstances for these kids' ejection are both factual as reported, then this is completely outrageous and disgusting behavior. Putting aside any stereotypes of what white kids who hang out at country club pools are like, let's just say that either group had at best an equal chance of being a poor influence on the other.

Actually, never mind. It's more likely that the visitors would have been more badly influenced by the members than vice versa.

  This is the mentality killing us in America...
 

  My grandmother talked about how basketball was a "woman's" sport in Hungary, where she played hard at her gymnasium in the twenties.  The parallels of transformation in sports and the rights that go along with participation in sports are intriguing. It's interesting to see how different forms of recreation morph over time and how it effects the structure of community or undermines it.  There is very much a politics of recreation as Eternity has posted here at REALNEO.

From my perspective and my neighborhood, I observe children with a confused sense of physical well being.  Here in America, under No Child Left Behind...we have created a whole generation of children who don't know how to ride bikes, how to swim, play baseball, golf, tennis etc.  Basketball remains because it is accessible.  There is also the complexity of land and elitism involved in any sport.  I think we need more open dialogue on these topics.

The Sokol movement, the Olympics...What constitutes a healthy community of sport, competition and "recreation" in America?  Where do we go from here? 

lmcshane,

You make a poignant analysis of the human body's physicality and the perceived roles that gender and ethnicity play when it comes to recreation and vocation.  But of course as I'm sure you already know, when one layers our rigged socio-economic class structure atop, the whole system and process gives us the end results that we see currently in our society, i.e. the poorest places being the most unhealthy places.

Is this accident or by design?

Jim Crow was by design.  COINTELPRO was by design.  Apartheid was by design.  In pre-Suffrage, denying women the right to vote was by design.  400+ years of enslaving Blacks was by design.  The early colonialists' poisoning American Indians to death with Smallpox infected blankets was by design.  Operation Northwood’s was by design.  MK Ultra was by design and there's a mountain of evidence that point to the fact that Operation 911 is likely to have been an inside job--by design.

Cheap food tends to be high carbohydrate food; bread, potatoes, pasta, flour, etc.  The same can be said for cheap processed sugar like high-fructose corn syrup.  While fresh [organic] fruits and vegetables like fresh avocados, spinach, papaya, vine-ripe tomatoes, blueberries and other nutritious foods like almonds, yogurt, dark chocolate, olives, red wine, tempe and salmon tend to be considerably more costly.

Mountaintop removal has finally been getting the attention it so deserves.  This coal extraction process is nothing short of hideous and like the petro-chemical toxicns in the Mississippi-Louisiana Delta(s) the coal ashe contamination in Appalachia, where mountaintop removal is heavily practiced, is, and should be acknowledged to be, another form of slow-walked genocide; as is the depleted uranium poisoning that the American solders are exposed to in the Middle East, as a result of our own "dirty bombs."

The way this country sees itself and the way it truly is, is worlds apart.  We need to forget this stupid  ass War on Drugs, and get back to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's and Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty.

All war is a war on poor people.  Look at Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Korea,  And really, these "wars" really aren't war, they're assaults--slaughters.

Just think, when was the last time we sent a bomb to a wealthy nation?  And while you're at it, ask yourself, when was the last time you saw a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's in a working class or poor neighborhood?

Coincidence?

  Eternity--you and I are on the same team :)

All war is a war on poor people.

The notion of sports and clubs is the problem.  Private versus public is the larger discussion at play.  The club owners were racist--no doubt about it, but in America we have the right to form associations as stupid as they might be.  The great equalizer is supposed to be money, and, in this case, the camp paid money to use the private club.  Private clubs in America are dying because they endorse exclusion.  It should be about inclusion and standards.  I know that this is not an easy thing to talk about, which is why I am trying to do so here at REALNEO.

(And, Eternity--I think that No Child left Behind has only exacerbated two classes of society by design)

Leveling the playing fields of injustice and corruption in America is like trying to level the lumps out of day old grits.  It's easier just to start fresh, which is why back in the sixties Timothy Leary said "Turn off, Tune in, Drop out."  In other words, some things are such a sham, they ain't worth foolin' with...like our utterly worthless, piss-poor banking system or insurance companies, for instance.

Take action.

I couldn't get my writings published, so I set up a slew of blogs and created my own magazine.  Now I'm not just publishing me, but I'm lifting up others with me.  And interestingly, I've now been hired as a contributing writer by a swanky arts quarterly, who's editor is an Emmy Award winner. 

Be a catalyst for change.

White supremacy and male dominance, should be called White inadequacy and male inferiority; because that's how it's acted out.  Though if you look at Clarence [house slave] Thomas and Sarah [T & A] Palin, it becomes clear that a few Blacks and women seem to have their heads stuck up their asses too.

Ignorance can be contagious, and yet old dogs can be taught new tricks...under the right circumstances.

We can change.

The whole of history has shown that humans educate each other best through imagery and oration (drawings, gestures and talking).  From the Egyptians and every other civilization up until industrialization, that was the way people learned.

IQ, compassion and common sense does not come from written tests and books.  Don't get me wrong, I love books, but I don't hide behind them or use them as a weapon.

Once upon a time books were specialty items, and hands on apprentiships, without depending on written education, used to be how most people around the world were taught.  But now in the last 150 years or so, we've come to the ridiculous conclusion that text is the way, the one and only way to measure intellect and wisdom.

That way is a failure, so it should come as no surprise that an alcoholic, cocaine addicted, power-hungry nitwit like King Bush II would create something as lame as "Every Child Left Behind."

Bush et all don't care about tests and rules because they are exempt.  Which is why they can steal a zillion dollars worth of public assets, kill a million people and suffer not even a slap on the wrists, but if I steal a bag of fresh fruit and vegetables from Kroger, I'm sure to wind up tasered and in jail.

Remember in the aftermath of Katrina, instead of sending in food and water, Bush sent in hired guns.  Cynical.

He's a cruel, evil man.

 *

  There's no tabula rasa, Eternity--we all have to come to grips with our histories, reinvent and come together. 

I still feel hopeful.  Today, I went down to Ingenuity Festival in Cleveland and saw a community enjoying a day in the sun as one community.  It can be done.  We are moving too slowly, but it can be done.
 

What?  Huh? Tabula rasa?  Were you trying to say what my eyes just read?  How did my 14 paragraph comment get interpreted to suggest that I believe we can't learn from our mistakes?

Furthermore, isn't it pure romanticism to think that "we can all just come together?"  It didn't happen for Gandhi.  I didn't happen for Dr. King and it ain't gonna happen for me.

Change comes to those who want it and are willing to speak out and work for it, not to those who simply need it.  Too, some things can be modified and improved upon, others have to come from scratch; thus the comment.

There was no "getting along" with slavery.  It had to be junked.  And the same can be said for so many other forms of oppression and deception.

RealNeo is a perfect example of "start fresh."  It's a beautiful thing.  So why the tabla rasa? 

Still, wouldn't it be nice if we could all just "come grips with our histories, reinvent and come together."

Let's start off with Bush and Cheney.  They could confess and atone for all their crimes, and return all the money the looted, back to the treasury.  Thereafter we could move on to Paulson and Geithner.

But alas, wishful thinking.

Huffington Post - A private suburban swim club accused of racism after it canceled the memberships of dozens of minority children says it will seek a meeting with the kids' camps to work out an agreement for them to return.

The swim club has claimed it has a diverse, multiethnic membership, but Goldman, a member for two years, said she couldn't remember seeing a black member this year.  Read more.

 Daily we learn more about the Bush Cheney regime and the parallels to Nazi Germany.   I agree that we need to acknowledge these crimes.  But, what do we do with all the anger generated?  It seems our whole society will always be based on people using other people to "get ahead."  It seems that collectively as a society we all fail to understand the concept of sharing.

 I see complicity/passivity as an evil almost as great as the act of evil itself.

During these hot days of summer--I hope folks will revisit these past posts regarding equal access to pools in the summer. 

I went to Lincoln Park in Tremont today to find that...AGAIN...due to a power outage...the pool had drained.  This, on one of the hottest days of the year.  I called Parks and Rec to complain and was glad, at least, that the Mayor and the City have found some way to prioritize and keep the outdoor pools open during these sweltering days--including Mondays and Tuesdays for the remainder of the pool season.

We still need more lifeguards--and swim training at the pools.  We need to train athletes and to stress public health standards and water safety. 

The lack of swim training available, especially to children of color--is deplorable and the Jackson administration needs to take note.  Every summer without properly staffed and maintained pools--and without swim team competitions--deprives the next generation of a quality childhood.

Thanks, Laura! HUGS!

Always Appreciative, "ANGELnWard14"