Saw this at Don’t Worry, and it might actually be more outrageous than the Gates arrest:
The Creative Steps Day camp paid the club $1950 so Philadelphia kids could swim at the Montgomery County outdoor pool once a week. During their first trip to the pool, several campers said club members pulled their kids out of the water and some made racial remarks. Before their next outing, Duesler told the camp director swim privileges were being suspended and their money returned. His first explanation came in a statement Tuesday night when he said, “There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion…and the atmosphere of the club.”
Oh, but wait! It can’t be about race… that would make them racist. And the club is convinced they aren’t that. It must just be a misunderstanding.
I haven’t seen Coates comment on this, but he has recently had a great post covering a lot more ground. A highlight:
I’ve written repeatedly about how racism can be a problem in a society with seemingly no racists, how racism–out of all the isms–became the province of cannibals, ogres, people existing one rung above the rapist, and child molester. Some of this is our fault–dramatizing the depravity of Southern racists was a brilliant political strategy. But the unexpected upshot is that whites who know they’d never sic a dog on a kid for the crime of crossing a street, can sit at home and say “Well if that’s racism, I know I’m not that.” It’d be as if our thoughts of sexism revolved strictly around honor-killings and rape. Perhaps they do.
