Can You Swim?

Sometimes a picture is not worth a thousand words...

I am one of nearly six of every 10 black Americans who can’t swim, so the jarring statistics about African-American and swimming, especially kids ages 5-14 being nearly three times as likely to die of drowning as white children, concern me.

I did not grow up disadvantaged or with the stigma of blacks not being able to swim.  In fact, some of my best childhood memories were at pool parties.  I just avoided the water - and not just because of my hair.  As I recounted ten years ago (ouch!) in Heart & Soul magazine my phobia can be traced back to 1976.  Yes, that's me in the opening shot, fakin' the funk for the photo shoot and mini me in the inset.  I was six years old and my younger sister (who taught herself how to swim) and I were playing in the pool at our father's apartment complex.  I don't remember if I took a wrong step or just was not paying attention but I ended up struggling, nearly drowning, in the deep end of the pool.  Unfortunately for me, my dad was so pre-occupied jamming to the P-Funk, he didn't see that I was in trouble and a woman that I didn't know, one of his neighbors, pulled me up and led me to the edge of the pool. 

Ever since that episode, I have done my best to avoid the water.  Even when I got my hair washed in the kitchen sink at my mother's house, my arms and legs had to be pinned down or else I would kick everything off of the kitchen counter!  I was famous for doing this as a kid.  Sad...  I even called my mother today just to ask what she remembered about it and she said, "Oh yeah! You were always too scared to get in the water. Every time somebody tried to put you in, you wouldn't go!"

I have had many opportunities to learn to swim since that time.  In fact, I took a few lessons for the Heart & Soul article, but I haven't kept it up.  My excuse has always been that I would learn to swim before I had children (which means... what?)

Anyway, watching Cullen Jones not only win gold, but work with programs to get young Black kids in the water has definitely inspired me to rethink my swimming stance. 

So, I am asking you Black Americans out there (apparently the "blacks can't swim" stigma does not apply to our Caribbean and African brothers and sisters) Can you swim?  Are you afraid of the water? Can your kids swim?

Comments

[fitness goddess]

I luv swimming! I haven't been in like 2 years though. My hair has prevented me from swimming. I plan to get at least one swim in before the end of the summer.

[stankerbell]

i love swimming as well, have been involved in multiple competitive swimming teams growing up and there are times where i deeply miss the smell of humid chlorine (it's weird, i know)but my dad's an excellent swimmer but several of my cousins are terrified of the water and will joke about not getting in by invoking the "black people don't swim". I don't have kids yet, but when I do, they will definitely be swimming.

[keyalus]

I can't swim and I am uncomfortable in the water but not extremely afraid. I do plan to take lessons in the fall though - mainly because I want to do a triathalon in the near future. I do think it is a good thing to know and I will make sure my kids have lessons.

[IQ365]

I've taken swimming lessons 3x over the past 6 years and still can't swim. I've accepted that I'm a "sinker" and not a floater. I may try one last time with private lessons instead of classes, but that'll be it for me.

[Carolyn]

I struggled with learning how to swim until I was about 11. At that time my father signed me up for a beginning swimmer's class at the local Y. Everyone in the class was about 5 or 6 years old. Being a pre-teen 11-year old, you know I was traumatized to be surrounded by little kids. Needless to say, by the end of the class, I could do something basic. Then a year later I almost drowned in a neighbor's pool playing Marco Polo. Last time I was in the water was about two years ago. I managed to do a few strokes. My fear is deep water. I won't go in anything over 6 feet.

[Samara Leigh]

This will sound odd: I love swimming, yet I am aquaphobic. I learned to swim when my son was about three because I didn't want to have to rely on someone else to save him. I came to enjoy swimming very much. But, each time I get in the water, I have to "warm up to it."

I always wear goggles and I prefer a nose plug.

Shawn Slevin's organization, The Swim Strong Foundation in NYC works to help minorities and immigrant children to learn to swim. I was surprised to read that statistic about our children being much more likely to drown.

Hopefully the magic of the Olympics and Michael Phelps will get kids motivated to learn.

[Nichelle]

@fitness goddess - Ah... hair. Swim caps won't work for you?

@stankerbell - Competitive swimming? I'm impressed! I don't know anything about the smell of "humid chlorine" but I hear ya.

@keyalus - I have ALWAYS wanted to do a triathalon! I've even thought about compromising and doing a biathalon because even when I learn to swim, how competitive could I really be?

@IQ365 - Is it some unconscious fear? The few lessons I had were private, but I could not believe all of the anxiety I had and the tension in my body.

@Carolyn - I have never liked deep water. Don't know how brave I'll be once I learn how to swim.

@Samara Leigh - Yeah, that does sound like a bit of an oxymoron to me (an "aquaphobic" swimmer).

I hope Olympians like Michael Phelps and Cullen Jones are inspirational too.

[afrobella]

I am Caribbean. I grew up across the street from the sea. And I can't swim to save my life. I have always been afraid of the water, and it all dates back to watching a dead body wash up on the beach when I was seven. Long, traumatic story but that image of my dad and brothers helping to carry this guy's body out of the water still haunts me. And I'm almost 30!

I love being in the water and going to the beach, but I get super scared when I can't see the bottom or can't stand up.

[Yasmin Sabur]

Float, yes, swim no. Classes, more than I can count. Always thought it may have been related to ancestors being captured near water and then riding the waves of horror on the trip over.
Good that the children are not hung up, perhaps we can learn from them.

[Ericka]

I am one of those who have yet to learn how to swim..my husband has started the process of teaching our oldest, who is six and he wants me to learn as well...i definitely want to learn mainly for safety and health reasons(good exercise). I never worried about learning how to ride a bike either..tried it once when i was very young, fell off, and told my dad that i would like to go back home now and draw..LOL, was never interested in riding a bike again..:)

[Nichelle]

@Yasmin - Wow! I didn't think about the ancestors. Probably because the rest of my family can swim...

@Ericka - You don't know how to ride a bike? It's so easy! I know... I sound like the people who already know how to swim - and think nothing of it.