THIS IS ACTUALLY FACTUAL AND NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED MORE
“Knowing that they were losing “valuable product” due to their slaves’ propensity to swim, slave owners began taking drastic steps to protect their property. One of these steps was to instill a fear of the water by dunking disobedient slaves in water until they nearly drowned and by creating fear through stories of creatures living in the water. Thus it didn’t take long to excise or destroy the West African swimming tradition from African- American culture. The Jim Crow laws that were enacted after The Civil War prohibited blacks from the popular seaside resorts in places like Atlantic City, N.J. and Revere Beach, Mass. And by the 20th Century, as the swimming pool began to gain in popularity in the United States, the color line prohibited blacks from enjoying this pleasant recreational skill.
In addition, self-segregation also played a role in limiting those of African ancestry from getting in the water. I remember my Aunt saying to stay away from the pool because, “black folk don’t swim.””
Such a long and consistent history of anti-Blackness and swimming. Long before police openly assaulted little black girls in McKinney, GoodWhitePeople™ were enforcing White Supremacy and segregating swimming pools.
Next time you hear someone ask questions like, “Why don’t black people swim?” Or “Why are so many black people afraid of dogs?” And, “Why are there do so many black people live in poverty?”…..let ‘em know that those aren’t coincidences. These things didn’t just happen naturally, all on their own. There’s a reason for it, and you don’t have to be an historian to know they’re all interconnected through slavery, endemic racism and persistently racist cultural norms.
(Source: mae-martin, via pantstomatch)
petitpauljoseph liked this
kourisku liked this
wowitsdiscourse reblogged this from blood-drunk-discourse
cplus902 reblogged this from blood-drunk-discourse and added: Self-segregation was actually mentioned, the person’s grandmother telling them that, “black folk don’t swim.”So that...
blood-drunk-discourse reblogged this from siryouarebeingmocked doodlepede liked this
papiinthewoods liked this
jjww liked this le-cat-nipp liked this
cyberangelb4by liked this
thebetterd reblogged this from princessmahogany
thebetterd liked this reneevstheworld reblogged this from princessmahogany
reneevstheworld liked this
maikacolon reblogged this from princessmahogany
maikacolon liked this
staven1 liked this mastertwilight reblogged this from princessmahogany
ninibear3000 liked this mossyraccoon liked this
princessmahogany reblogged this from abladeofgrass
ladysstark liked this remy-labelle-art reblogged this from coffeebuddha
clifton60000 liked this ro8874 liked this
antoniospizza-blog liked this
solo-cup-homosexual reblogged this from serioushedgehog
dothewriteything reblogged this from castroelle
dothewriteything liked this
castroelle reblogged this from sarcasticantics
castroelle liked this milopanther liked this
crazyandalone reblogged this from donutjo
yanjing reblogged this from donutjo
donutjo reblogged this from sarcasticantics sarcasticantics reblogged this from insideguppysworld
carl0pakoussa liked this mae-martin posted this
- Show more notes
