Black Children kicked out of Philadelphia area pool for fear they may “Change the Complexion”

Looks like a Pennsylvania Summer Camp group may have fallen victim to civil rights era discrimination when they wanted to go for a swim recently.  According to Philadelphia’s NBC Television affiliate, a group of African-American summer campers were prohibited from going to a private pool they had already paid to use.

View more news videos at: http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/video.

Here’s some of the story as it appears online.

• “I heard this lady, she was like, ‘Uh, what are all these black kids doing here?’ She’s like, ‘I’m scared they might do something to my child,'” said camper Dymire Baylor.

• The Creative Steps Day Camp paid more than $1900 to The Valley Swim Club. The Valley Swim Club is a private club that advertises open membership. But the campers’ first visit to the pool suggested otherwise.

• “When the minority children got in the pool all of the Caucasian children immediately exited the pool,” Horace Gibson, parent of a day camp child, wrote in an email. “The pool attendants came and told the black children that they did not allow minorities in the club and needed the children to leave immediately.”

And what was the reason given for being turned around?  “There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club,” John Duesler, President of The Valley Swim Club said in a statement.

Hat tip to Carmen D. of All About Race who sent this story out on Twitter.