Swim or die: The battle to save black kids from drowning

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I’m one of the lucky ones. When I was 4-years-old my father had an in-ground pool built in the backyard of my Baltimore home. And then he immediately hired a swim teacher to come to our house every Saturday like clockwork to teach my sisters and me the ways of the water. Though he grew up in inner city Baltimore of meager means, my father (and my mother) had learned how to swim at young ages. And what was clear to them from the start was that in order to be safe—and have fun in the summer especially—you had to know how to swim.

If only this were so for most African-American families today! Instead, a recent study commissioned by USA Swimming and conducted by the University of Memphis reveals a shocking truth. Not only do most black kids not know how to swim, the concept of “most” is not an exaggeration. Actually about 70 percent of black youth across America cannot swim.

Unfortunately, this lack of swimming skill is not translating into safe behavior in pools and oceans in this country. When the Fahrenheit is climbing and folks are looking for relief, the water is usually the most alluring (and cooling) destination they seek.

Therein lies the problem. We’ve already seen tragedy strike communities across the country this summer. A few weeks ago a 12-year-old Dominican immigrant from Harlem, Nicole Suriel, lost her life in the rip tide at a beach in Long Island. Nevermind that camp counselors didn’t heed the warning that no lifeguard was on duty at that stretch of beach or the greater reality that this girl couldn’t swim.

Children have wandered or fallen into backyard pools, drowned on beaches and otherwise lost their lives this year because of a basic lack of swimming skills. The American Red Cross reported that about 5,000 drowning or near drowning accidents are reported annually in America. Worse still, according to the University of Memphis study, “the fatal drowning rate of African-American children ages 1-14 is 2.6 times higher than that of white children in the same age range.” This is scary stuff, especially considering how many thousands of children routinely load onto school buses and go on swimming excursions everyday in America.

After the Suriel drowning, there was an audible hush among campers’ parents. What can they do to protect their children?

Enter 26-year-old Olympic gold winner Cullen Jones. The 2008 gold medalist is set on changing this tragic tide. The winner of the 4 × 100 freestyle at the Beijing Olympics has teamed up with Make a Splash, a national water safety initiative created by USA Swimming Foundation, and is traveling across the country sounding out a safety message to all youth. His delivery is hauntingly authentic considering his foray into swimming started with a near drowning. Jones’ moment of truth came at age five.

“I was at a water park on an inner tube, and I ended up almost drowning in the pool,” Jones explains. EMS had to come and resuscitate him.

As in many black families, Jones didn’t know how to swim because his mother didn’t value the skill. He says, “My mom did not make swimming a priority. I guess they [his parents] thought maybe later in life I would learn how to swim.”

That all changed on his near-death day. Immediately, Jones explains, “my mom wanted me to know how to swim, so she enrolled me in swim lessons. She was afraid of the water, and she wanted me to love the water and enjoy the water and not be afraid of it like she was.”

Those first lessons turned into a lifelong love of the competitive sport.

“I started off with just taking lessons,” Jones said. “But then when I was eight, I swam in my first swim meet because my friend was a swimmer and I got really competitive, which runs in my family as a lot of people in my family are competitive as basketball players. I got really excited about swimming and my mom asked me if I wanted to be on a competitive team and I said yes. I have been competitively swimming ever since then.”

Jones has primarily been going at it alone, in the sense of his nearest peers. He acknowledges that especially when he was growing up, the kids who lived near him were into other sports. “Growing up the people in my neighborhood did not swim. Most of them played basketball and the typical African-American sports. I was different.”

Cullen Jones is committed to making sure that other kids choose to be different too. Because being different—as it relates to learning to swim—may just save your life. It wasn’t until right after the Olympics, Jones admits, that he realized how important it was to get out and share the message.

“Someone came in front of me and showed me the stats of black swimmers and I was shocked,” he says. “I knew they were bad, but not that bad. In my community, most people do not consider swimming as a life skill, but it is. I want to teach people that it is extremely important to know how to swim.”

The statistics revealed by this study are staggering. While lower income black families lead the ranks of children who do not know how to swim, interestingly, the cost of learning to swim was not their biggest deterrent. Fear topped the list.

“Parents are combating their own fear of the water and projecting that fear onto their children,” Jones said. “It would be better to teach your kids how to be near the water and how to swim.”

Also high up on the list of obstacles was vanity.

“One of the big things that I saw in the University of Memphis study was the nervousness with physical appearance,” Jones said. “When I look at my own mother, who spends quite a bit of money to get her hair done, for her to get it wet it is like throwing that money away. I completely understand that. But learning to swim is a lifelong skill. It is like riding a bike; you will never forget how to do it. But unlike riding a bike, swimming can save your life.”

Even with this effort to teach swimming skills, it’s curious as to whether there will be a significant shift in awareness and action in the black community. Being on the frontlines, Jones says he believes he is making some headway.

“It does help to have a gold medal. A lot of people get inspired by that,” he said. “I kind of stand on my soapbox and say how important this initiative is. I direct people to go to makeaplash.org. It really is a resource for a lot of people. If your kids know how to swim, make sure your neighbor knows how to swim. We have to make sure that every kid knows how to swim because it is so important.”

While cost may not be a factor for all, the Make a Splash program in partnership with Conoco Phillips is committed to reducing or eliminating the price of classes as broadly as possible. So far, there are more than 200 partner programs in 39 states.

And the future, through Jones’ eyes, seems bright. “In 2012, we are hoping that every state has local partners,” he said. “Now, more than 350,000 people have been affected by Make a Splash. The numbers are continuing to grow.”

And that’s particularly important, because one tendency among young people needs to be counter-balanced, namely their common belief of invincibility.

“Drowning is terrible,” Jones states. “I know a lot of kids and they look at the person next to them, who knows how to swim, and they say they do too. Parents need to understand that by not giving their children swim lessons, they are not water safe. If they can’t swim 20 yards, from one side of the pool to another, they don’t know how to swim and they are not ready to be in the water alone.”

Jones’ advice to black youth: “I would tell kids to be honest. If they cannot swim, no matter who around them can, get a life vest and be safe. It is better to be safe then to be drowned.”

This is a lesson Jones learned early on. With the help of his mother, he turned a potential tragedy into ultimate victory. Did he envision this as a young boy?

“I never thought that I would ever become an Olympian. I grew up in the inner city. The Olympics was not an opportunity for me. I was just really competitive with the guy next to me and I took baby steps to get there. I set a goal and I am just happy that I can be a part of the initiative that is so connected to my own life and is something I feel so strongly about.”