3/5 Compromise

Current events and historically irreverent taglines? You betcha!

Believe it or not, nearly 60% of African-American children can't swim according to a survey by USA Swimming. The number is almost twice the figure for white children, and hopes hopes are the news will strengthen efforts to lower minority drowning rates and draw more blacks into the sport.

Stark statistics underlie the initiative by the national governing body for swimming. Black children drown at almost three times the overall rate, and less than 2% of USA Swimming's 250,000 plus members who swim competitively year-round are black.

The group surveyed 1,772 children aged 6 to 16 in six cities — two-thirds of them black or Hispanic — to gauge what factors contributed most to the minority swimming gap. The study found that 31% of the white respondents could not swim safely, compared to 58% of the blacks. The non-swimming rate for Hispanic children was almost as high at 56% (sure, there's a border crossing joke somewhere in there too).

One key finding was the influence of parents' attitudes and abilities. If a parent couldn't swim, as was far more likely in minority families than white families, or if the parent felt swimming was dangerous, then the child was far less likely to learn how to swim. Among black children, the study found that girls overall had weaker swimming skills than boys and were less comfortable at pools.

The minority swimming gap has deep roots in America's racial history. For decades during the 20th century, many pools were segregated, and relatively few were built to serve black communities. Old, flawed studies claiming that blacks' swimming ability was compromised by an innate deficit of buoyancy didn't help either. But it comes as no surprise that the study also found that swimming ability, regardless of race, increased in relation to parents' income and education. The yuppie lawyers living in Santa Monica are far more likely to have a pool or have their kid swim than the blue collar couple in Van Nuys living in an apartment - duh!