...he suffered from what he calls Bl-aquaphobia, a word he coined to describe the inherent fear black people have of water – a fear that’s “very, very different” from their white counterparts, he says.
“With white people, it’s usually to do with something that’s happened – ‘I fell into the water, there was an accident’, something like that. But there are a lot of black people, myself included, that have aquaphobia and don’t even know it.”
Except Nigeria, where there's quite a big swimming culture, apparently...
Sayso, a musician, who wrote the soundtrack to the film, is one of the few young people in the community who admits to liking swimming but that’s only because he grew up in Nigeria where, he says, it was a common activity.
So why isn't it here, since it compounds risk?
According to Swim England, the sport’s governing body, 95% of black adults and 80% of black children in England do not swim, and only 2% of regular swimmers are black.
It’s an alarming statistic that has life-threatening implications, Accura says, with black children three times more likely to drown than white children.
Wait a minute, though! How do they drown? In the bath? Because if they really did suffer from 'aquaphobia' they wouldn't enter the water in the first place, would they?
But back to why it's a UK issue. Well, would you Adam and Eve it!? Of course, it's 'racism'.
The cultural barriers to swimming – from Afro hair to dry skin, to worrying about the myth that black people have heavier bones – are born of institutional and systemic inequalities that you see right across the aquatic industry, says Danielle Obe, founding member of the Black Swimming Association, a charity which launched last year to tackle the lack of diversity in swimming.
Yes, of course. When is it ever anything else?
“Our community perceives swimming as a white man’s sport. Why? Because that’s what they see!” Obe says, arguing that it’s the same messaging you see whether it’s the Swimming Teachers’ Association or The Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
She points to swim caps as a case in point – they were designed by Speedo 50 years ago for Caucasian hair, “but they don’t work for us because our hair grows up and defies gravity”.
*sceptical face*
To encourage her own children to swim, Obe designed a waterproof wraparound scarf – and has been touting it around manufacturers in the hope that one might develop it. They showed no interest.
“The perception is they don’t swim anyway, so why should we bother?”, Obe says.
So why don't you form your own manufacturing company?
“We have to do something for our community,” she says. “It can no longer be that swimming is not part of our culture.”
Whose culture? It certainly seems to be part of the culture in other majority black countries...
13 comments:
I did my helicopter underwater escape training in Nigeria with a Frenchman and about 15 Nigerians. When asked by the instructor, only the Frenchman and I said we could swim. To be fair the others all got in the pool wearing life vests, except one, who was literally shaking with fear. I’m sure there are Nigerians who can swim, but they don’t appear to be that keen on water.
Our best hope is that the vast majority of people become completely bored with this kind of tiresome drivel.
Water is racist now apparently. As well as everything else.
There's a massive amount amount of people relying on "racism" to make a living. They are unemployable in the real world so this issue will never go away.
Jaded
"There's a massive amount amount of people relying on "racism" to make a living. "
According to Peter Turchin http://peterturchin.com/cliodynamica/ there are too many 'elite' people for the number of 'elite' jobs available. This is a social pattern that repeats and usually ends in great social change.
A great reason for water cannon at the next black riot
We must take it on their Sayso.
I think that I could find some real world jobs that they could do. Litter picking for instance.
If they don't like water much, then maybe their colour is just ingrained dirt? So Michael Jackson only needed to wash? Puts a new complexion on the complexion.
Don't get me started on Sparkletits, who seems to have got whiter as she got out of her teens.
When I was a kid I would have liked to have learned to play the piano. We did have an old piano in the house but, being somewhat working class, my parents could never have afforded for me to have lessons. I wasn't the sort of talented person who could just have the ability to play without being taught. When choosing subjects to study half way through secondary school, I would have liked to have studied music but realised that this was an option only available to those who could play an instrument and who could read music. Back then there were certain realities that you simply had to accept and deal with. Maybe I should have gone whining to the Guardian instead. Evil classism robbed the world of a brilliant concert pianist by stopping me from achieving my potential.
You want to be a swimmer but the whitycentric swim caps won't fit over your afro? If you were anything like serious you would cut your hair short but whining is just so much easier.
Later in life I bought a piano and took lessons, I don't think that the world of music would have missed me.
@Stonyground, you should have done what I did, I had a hand injury, and whilst being treated I asked the doctor if I will be able to play the piano afterwards, he said "of course you will"
"Great", I said, "I've always wanted to play the piano"
He just looked at me funny
Oh the old ones are the best.
Blacks have an atavistic fear of water and the countryside.
"I’m sure there are Nigerians who can swim, but they don’t appear to be that keen on water."
Odd. Perhaps it's a very localised thing?
"There's a massive amount amount of people relying on "racism" to make a living. "
A far more comfortable living than it should be, at that...
"Maybe I should have gone whining to the Guardian instead."
All it would have cost is your soul and self-respect.
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