<p>"Wright said the situation has adversely affected the children.</p>
<p>“The children are not doing well at all … it’s really coming to the surface how these children have been affected,” she said. “They’re asking questions [like] are they too dark to go into the pool?” "</p>
<p>From the CNN link.</p>
<p>Perhaps the kids would be doing a lot better if the alleged grownups involved had not decided to, literally, make a federal case out of this incident. The day care center director gets her 15 minutes of fame with the media, some attorneys get lots of free publicity, and then the whole train moves on to the next staged event. Meanwhile, the kids are left to stew in their victimhood, instead of learning valuable lessons and moving on.</p>
<p>Not it is not. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is federal law. Thirty nine states also have anti-discrimnation statutes, which generally go further than the federal statutes. There are also a number of city ordinances that may apply. The federal law acts as a minimum protection level. </p>
<p>Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the principal federal public accommodations law that governs anti-discrimination by facilities such as the swim club. This is the statute under which a lawsuit has now been filed against the club.</p>
<p>“Perhaps the kids would be doing a lot better if the alleged grownups involved had not decided to, literally, make a federal case out of this incident. The day care center director gets her 15 minutes of fame with the media, some attorneys get lots of free publicity, and then the whole train moves on to the next staged event. Meanwhile, the kids are left to stew in their victimhood, instead of learning valuable lessons and moving on.”</p>
<p>A settlement? Can’t get blood from a turnip. How much money do you think this pool has, anyway? This isn’t the Huntingdon Valley Country Club, this isn’t Philmont Country Club, this isn’t one of the country clubs on the Main Line. This is a neighborhood swim club that charges a couple of hundred bucks a year to belong.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl, grievance groupies don’t see it in the common sense way. They just assume there’s gold at the end of their rainbow. Here’s an example: I worked on a case at my prior firm where something in a similar realm occurred and the plaintiff couldn’t be swayed from suing. She practically had the money spent. well you can imagine her surprise when the business at issue closed, she got nothing from them, and since there were tryable issues to sort out, she didn’t get attorneys’ fees. This will probably end up that way. The insurance will be a finite amount, the attorneys’ fees and disbursements will eat up most of it. the kids will each get a pittance, and no one will be able to swim anymore.</p>
<p>I can’t believe these comments. How would you feel if YOUR CHILD was traumatized by this experience? “Oh what are those ____ kids doing here?” If I was that targeted child, I would feel very hurt and humiliated. No parent wants their child to witness that kind of bigotry and foolishness (the refund of their money hurt even more so, made the children feel like they were unwanted when they did nothing wrong.)</p>
<p>Yes, the kids definitely learned a lesson here. People will always judge them by the color (and class) of their skin tone. Among the kids were kindergarteners. Their innocence was shattered. They shouldn’t have to be exposed to such ignorance. What the club did was wrong, and they are witnessing the repercussions of their foolish actions.</p>
<p>I can’t see much good coming of this. Hurtful things that were said will ramped up a notch. A law suit will only serve to harden each side. If there were just grown ups involved, then I might feel differently - let them all have at it. For the kids, it will just get uglier.</p>
<p>Since it has been obvious from day one that some club members disagreed with the decision to uninvite the day camps, how about they hire a professional facilitator/mediator, and have the kids go back and meet with the membership, clarify everyone’s feelings, and then have the kids start using the pool in an orderly fashion–starting with swim tests, not with dumping 65 untested kids in the shallow end.</p>
<p>Everyone wins.</p>
<p>A law suit in this case means everyone loses.</p>
<p>“I can’t believe these comments. How would you feel if YOUR CHILD was traumatized by this experience?”</p>
<p>How would you feel if YOUR FAMILY had devoted years to this swim club – your kids learning to swim there, moving on to the swim team, working as lifeguards and coaches, you and your spouse serving on the board, making lifelong friends, feeling part of a community – only to have it shattered overnight by the professional Grievancemongers, who arranged for some loudmouths to picket your club with media coverage, traumatize your children on the way to swim practice by branding them as racists, and then dragging your club and its volunteer management through the mud on the way to the courthouse?
Had this incident been handled in a sensible manner, the day-care kids would have FORGOTTEN it by now.</p>
<p>“I can’t believe these comments. How would you feel if YOUR CHILD was traumatized by this experience?”</p>
<p>I am trying to raise kids who would not be traumatized by comments such as those. I think that teaching kids to have enough self confidence and resilience to overcome general remarks from strangers is the way to go. I’m not a big believer in wallowing in victimhood.</p>
<p>True. It would be nice to make fake victimhood less lucrative. Those who have truly been victimized and traumatized should be compensated, of course.</p>
<p>purpleflurp, give me a break. Like most kindergarten-age and elementary-age children walk around with self-confidence when someone says derogatory comments against them. For many, that was their first time experiencing hate. The psychological damage has been done. The “safety” concerns are nothing but an excuse. If the club really wanted the kids, they should have never refunded them so hastily.</p>
<p>“Had this incident been handled in a sensible manner, the day-care kids would have FORGOTTEN it by now.”</p>
<p>clairemarie, how was the incident handled in a “sensible manner” when the club told the day care to leave and refunded their money days later? How were the kids supposed to ignore racial and class comments obviously targeted against them? How were the day-care kids supposed to FORGET about that???</p>
<p>Well, then, the day camp can do two things with that experience. They can reinforce for the children that indeed the rest of the world thinks of them negatively, not fit to swim with, etc. Or they can reinforce for the children that no matter what other people say, they are beautiful, intelligent and worthwhile, and that you don’t let a few loudmouths’ opinions dictate what you’ll do and where you’ll go in life.</p>
<p>The good news is another location invited the kids. This is a good start, and I applaud that community center.</p>
<p>"Yesterday, they enjoyed a thrilling afternoon, gratis, at Delaware Valley Gymnastics Academy, in Huntingdon Valley - just minutes from the swim club. Owner Ed Riley wanted to show the kids that people in his town cared about them.</p>
<p>“It was wonderful,” said Wright. “Good people will help our children heal.”</p>
<p>And lawsuits, apparently, will help ensure that no other kid will get bruised that way again."</p>