This is the thread where the fringster comes back with teeth

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Adder

Which, frrankly, sounds like a good result to me.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local...imination.html

different take today, maybe just spin control

[Adder]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local...imination.html

different take today, maybe just spin control

I guess it is possible that "There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion . . . and the atmosphere of the club." was just extraordinarily poor word choice to say, "there were too many of them and it was too crowded" but I am skeptical.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Adder

I guess it is possible that "There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion . . . and the atmosphere of the club." was just extraordinarily poor word choice to say, "there were too many of them and it was too crowded" but I am skeptical.

well, if by "complexion" he meant "we don't want black kids in our pool" I wonder why they agreed to the contract in the first place. I mean they must have known where the day camp was from. it could have been a very bad word choice, and just that.

we have a rec center in my tiny suburb. there is a bigger suburb next door that has no rec center. the basketball court in the rec center is largely empty 9 months of the year. during the few months of the year when there is rec ball all the part-time players from my suburb flood the courts.

at first kids (outside the 3 months) from the bigger suburb came to our rec center, and there were games. my kid benefitted because he had opponents.

then, when the b-ball season started and the non-all-year-playing kids came out, the courts were too packed. the rec center's solution was to ban kids from the other suburb. the other suburb is largely black.

i fought the decision since it effectively made the rec center useless for basketball 9 months of the year. i lost.

I had to drive my kid a half hour to a place where he could find games all through middle school because of the decision.

I think the decision was dumb, but I never thought it had anything to do with keeping black kids out- it was about not flooding a facility such that the "owners" were crowded out. if the director of the rec center had said something about complexion I would have thought it was a very dumb thing to say, but it still wouldn't have made me think race was behind the decision.

i don't know why the swim club kicked kids out, it might well have been race, but it is possible it was something else.

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally Posted by Adder

I guess it is possible that "There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion . . . and the atmosphere of the club." was just extraordinarily poor word choice to say, "there were too many of them and it was too crowded" but I am skeptical.

That "complexion" line is like a bad joke -- it's playing out like a Very Special Episode of "Diff'rent Strokes." The club's management signed a contract with a day camp from Funky North Philly, and then acts all butt-hurt that either (a.) the kids are all black and Hispanic OR (b.) there are a lot of kids?

My guess is that club management didn't care whether the kids were black or not, but that they got complaints from members, and lacked the moral courage to tell the complainers they are racist shitstain Neanderthals.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

well, if by "complexion" he meant "we don't want black kids in our pool" I wonder why they agreed to the contract in the first place. I mean they must have known where the day camp was from. it could have been a very bad word choice, and just that.

Atticus has already said it, but yeah, when they signed the contract the club must have known something about both the ethnic makeup of the group and the number of kids involved.

i don't know why the swim club kicked kids out, it might well have been race, but it is possible it was something else.

Of course. But I think the "complexion" word choice is potentially telling. Hence the skepticism. It would have been really easy to say, "we really didn't understand our capacity to take on that many kids at once, and were concerned about overwhelming the rest of our membership."

[Pretty Little Flower]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

well, if by "complexion" he meant "we don't want black kids in our pool" I wonder why they agreed to the contract in the first place. I mean they must have known where the day camp was from. it could have been a very bad word choice, and just that.

Good point. We don't know what was meant. In fact, I think it is possible that "complexion" was a reference to skin color, but that the club actually kicked those kids out because they were not black enough. Which makes us the racists for judging the club owners and members. We need to stop being so quick to judge clubs that kick out black kids after the club's members make racist comments, and then the club mistakenly says it kicked them out because letting them stay would have changed the skin color of the club.

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall

Translation?: Take your nigglets back to the fire hydrant, they're fucking up our kids' whiteness.

TM

I don't think this needed a translation. Their point was fairly obvious.

Example:

Initial Statement: "You're a fucking cocksucking prick."

Translation: "Fuck you you fucking dickbag."

See. Unnecessary.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

well, if by "complexion" he meant "we don't want black kids in our pool" I wonder why they agreed to the contract in the first place. I mean they must have known where the day camp was from. it could have been a very bad word choice, and just that.

we have a rec center in my tiny suburb. there is a bigger suburb next door that has no rec center. the basketball court in the rec center is largely empty 9 months of the year. during the few months of the year when there is rec ball all the part-time players from my suburb flood the courts.

at first kids (outside the 3 months) from the bigger suburb came to our rec center, and there were games. my kid benefitted because he had opponents.

then, when the b-ball season started and the non-all-year-playing kids came out, the courts were too packed. the rec center's solution was to ban kids from the other suburb. the other suburb is largely black.

i fought the decision since it effectively made the rec center useless for basketball 9 months of the year. i lost.

I had to drive my kid a half hour to a place where he could find games all through middle school because of the decision.

I think the decision was dumb, but I never thought it had anything to do with keeping black kids out- it was about not flooding a facility such that the "owners" were crowded out. if the director of the rec center had said something about complexion I would have thought it was a very dumb thing to say, but it still wouldn't have made me think race was behind the decision.

i don't know why the swim club kicked kids out, it might well have been race, but it is possible it was something else.

I like the explanation that they didn't want all those kids around, so people started taking their kids out of the pool as soon as the kids showed up.

Yes, indeed.

[greatwhitenorthchick]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

I like the explanation that they didn't want all those kids around, so people started taking their kids out of the pool as soon as the kids showed up.

Yes, indeed.

Yeah, that struck me too. Motherfuckers.

This kind of incident makes me wish that every American could visit my gym. In the four years I've been going there I've never seen anything racist (or sexist). People just don't seem to give a shit. Makes me feel a little better when I see shit like this.

I read an article on what RT posted yesterday, and the comments were absolutely appalling. I'm not going back there to link to it, but it made me feel sick.

[Pretty Little Flower]

Originally Posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?

I don't think this needed a translation. Their point was fairly obvious.

Example:

Initial Statement: "You're a fucking cocksucking prick."

Translation: "Fuck you you fucking dickbag."

See. Unnecessary.

I'll admit that, at first glance, Thurgreed's post appeared to be as superfluous as your "cocksucking prick" to "fucking dickbag" translation. But go back and read Hank's post carefully and you may begin to question whether you, in fact, are the racist here. Or at least whether you are someone who inappropriately rushes to judgment against white clubs that kick black kids out after racists comments by their members, and mistakenly explain their actions in racially suspect terms.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by greatwhitenorthchick

Yeah, that struck me too. Motherfuckers.

This kind of incident makes me wish that every American could visit my gym. In the four years I've been going there I've never seen anything racist (or sexist). People just don't seem to give a shit. Makes me feel a little better when I see shit like this.

I read an article on what RT posted yesterday, and the comments were absolutely appalling. I'm not going back there to link to it, but it made me feel sick.

Oedipulist fuck.

Your gym sounds like a nice place. People of all sexes and colors just kicking and beating the shit out of each other. That's what America is all about.

As a matter of fact, it reminds me of my family. Without grandma's racial slurs.

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Originally Posted by Fugee

Are they in a time warp where it is the 1950s or 60s? Their lawyers have to be struggling to find a way to make this sound other than what it is. Otherwise those little black kids are gonna end up owning that club after their discrimination suit.

Unless I've missed some changes in the law, private clubs are allowed to discriminate -- even on reprehensible grounds. (Although there are still ways to attack them for it.) This is sure as heck not the only swim club/country club in the Philly Suburbs with a no minorities policy.

Best hope is that the publicity might embarrass enough of the members and management to force some slow changes.

S_A_M

[Flinty_McFlint]

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower

I'll admit that, at first glance, Thurgreed's post appeared to be as superfluous as your "cocksucking prick" to "fucking dickbag" translation. But go back and read Hank's post carefully and you may begin to question whether you, in fact, are the racist here. Or at least whether you are someone who inappropriately rushes to judgment against white clubs that kick black kids out after racists comments by their members, and mistakenly explain their actions in racially suspect terms.

I like you.

[greatwhitenorthchick]

Originally Posted by Secret_Agent_Man

This is sure as heck not the only swim club/country club in the Philly Suburbs with a no minorities policy.


S_A_M

I guess Obama would be shown to the kitchen and given an apron if he showed up there.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

I like the explanation that they didn't want all those kids around, so people started taking their kids out of the pool as soon as the kids showed up.

Yes, indeed.

actually, my point was the story is different from yesterday. I think today there were fewer things alleged like you now allege. I also think openly ignorant racists, like the ones doing obama election mock ups that we've seen here, are far less dangerous than educated racists who hide their beliefs. I do believe that educated racists hide their beliefs for the most part, and if the guy made the word choice intending to refer to black people, he had to know it would hit papers- I mean he was talkign to a reporter, right?

Thus, when a guy who runs a private club in northeast Philly says "complexion" I believe there is a chance he made a really bad word choice, BECAUSE, and hold on tight, a really racist educated guy making the decision to exclude people based on race who be really careful to not make such a loaded word choice.

that said, is it possible that the decision was driven by members who were freaked out that the club had let in a bunch of black kids? yes, sure.

and, in fact, the way I can best see "complexion" meaning race is the guy who said it was ordered to kick the kids out because a few members freaked, and was making the word choice intentionally to signal what his superior had ordered him to do, and against his wishes. again, a guy who is so backward as to choose the word the way you seem to accept would not have signed the camp up in the first place.

but, rather than attempt to bring any nuance here, let me retract all of my prior post, and substitute this: racism is bad.

e.o.m.