Waterfoul

 

  This week Michael Phelps jumped into a pool In Rio and shattered records that have stood for millennia, and became one of the most decorated athletes in Olympic history.  Hell, it's easy to see how this happened.  The man has a wingspan like an albatross.  To put this into perspective, Phelps' outstretched arms measure six feet, four inches across.  To put THAT into perspective, 96.1% of Americans are shorter than 6',4" standing up.  If the man weren't so damn tall, I am sure his knuckles would drag on the ground behind him as he walked.  Using those meat hooks to push himself around the pool, it's easy to see how he leaves everyone in his wake.

     So it probably comes as no surprise to anyone really that Phepls has dominated his chosen sport. He is also dominating the media coverage of the Olympics.  What did surprise me, was some of the reactions that I have been reading this morning. I am suddenly seeing a lot of people questioning the "lack of ethnic diversity" in our swimming team. I have read several stories and posts from the likes of NPR and the BBC about how and why there are so few minorities in the pool.  My favorite by far was an analogy that went back to the 1920's and examined how segregation made it impossible for black children have access to public swimming pools and hence today, none of the black folks in the US know how to swim.  They even pointed out that swimming is financially out of reach of minority groups.  So there it is.  The media has managed to take one of our finest and proudest moments and turn it into a race baiting circus. Nice job.

      I want to take this opportunity to point out a few things real quick. Seventy one percent of the earths surface is covered by--water.  Access to water is not only a basic fundamental human right, it's essential to stay alive. Water is our most abundant resource on the entire planet. Almost the entirety of our population centers are built on, or near fresh water sources.  Every human being in this country has a supply of water within walking distance of where they are currently at- because if they didn't, they would die.  A pretty large portion of those people are within a short travel distance to a body of water. 

     Now for the shocker: I'm white and I know how to swim; because white privilege. NO! Bullshit!  I know how to swim because I found a place to get in the damn water and figured out how to do it.  By and large, most of the time when I am swimming, (which admittedly is not all that often) it's not in a Government sanctioned swimming pool.  Actually, the closer probability is that I am swimming in a pond or a lake or even a river. I know how to swim because I chose to learn how to do it.  It's the same reason I can walk the dog with my Yo-Yo or replace the brakes on my truck- I chose to learn how to do these things.  Now access to Yo-Yo's or brake shoes may be limited to some, but we have established that if you want to find water, you really don't have to look very far to do it. That's the way it has been done since- well since the beginning of time.

     70% of Black children and 60% of Hispanic children don't know how to swim.  Okay, well how many of them know how to send text messages or operate that X-Box or laptop? How many of these people know how to drive by 18?  All of which are easily measured as more expensive endeavors than finding a swimming hole and spending the afternoon escaping the summer heat. Hell, I am pretty sure that even paying to get into a public pool is just about one of the most affordable things you can do for an afternoon.  Swimming requires absolutely no equipment.  By my math, you don't even need a uniform to participate in swimming if you find the right location....  Which would seem to make swimming one of the most affordable sports to participate in.  Just because your parents failed to instruct you, and you never sought out information on your own, does not make your ignorance someone else's fault. I am not a racist because someone chooses the path of their own life. 

     I have another shocking revaluation for y'all too: You can't Affirmative Action your way onto the medal stand.  That's something you have to earn.  You can't demand that every trio of medal winners include a minority because that's not how it works.  Should we use Phelps' current wave of popularity to encourage participation in swimming?  YES! Absolutely! Should we use our national swimming teams success to encourage more people, including minorities to learn to swim?  Yep!   Should we do our best to provide access to facilities for children, including minorities who show promise in the sport? I totally agree with that. But I don't think we need to start breaking ground on every Martin Luther King Drive in the country for Olympic swimming facilities just because 100 years ago people were denied access to a local pool-- Not today.  There are plenty of places to go get your feet wet and plenty of folk who can show you how to wave your arms around so you don't drown.  Hell, for that matter, go look it up on youtube.  Now stop pointing your race-baiting ass finger at me, and go put on your swimming britches and get in the water.