Culture

Commision finds probable cause of racism in PA

by smkovalinsky | September 23, 2009 at 06:30 pm

100 views | 16 Recommendations | 1 comment

In a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a state commission (The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission) announced that it concludes there is "probable cause of racism" regarding a decision made by the Valley Swim Club to cancel the membership of a day care center whose 65 children were mainly African American and Hispanic. The finding was the conclusion of a formal investigative report of some 33 pages.

Within it, a number of black and Hispanic children allege that white members made remarks to them on June 29, during a visit, implying they could not be trusted due to their race.

The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, in its 33-page finding, details the incident. It notes that the swim club maintains it canceled its relationship with the day care center because members were requesting their membership fees be refunded and because of safety concerns “attendant with overcrowding of the shallow end of the pool by a large number of non-swimmers.”
But the commission, in its finding, stated that the club “routinely has members at the facility in numbers that are equal in size or exceed the number of Creative Steps campers.” The club has also hosted groups of similar size without raising safety concerns, the commission said.

The finding is “an invitation to sit down with our staff and have the parties settle their differences,” said commission chairman Stephen Glassman. “If they don’t, it will go on to a public hearing.”