Class teaches more than swim lessons
The following is a Counterpoint:
By Barbara Foote
I enjoyed reading the article earlier this summer concerning African American children who are not able to swim (“YMCA hopes to bridge the swimming gap,” June 25). I am trying to learn to swim at age 55.
I really enjoyed the comments by N.C. A&T swim team member Aasiya Townsell about being on a white swim team since age 11. As a white, I’ve often wondered how I would feel and be treated if I were the only white person at church, etc.
I’d like to share with you how my husband and I (both white) have been treated at Hayes-Taylor YMCA, which is mostly black. I don’t think I would be treated with as much kindness in a mostly white YMCA.
When I am there, I do not think about my skin color being different from anyone else’s there and that is how it should be. We are all created equal by a Father who loves us all.
Justin and Stacey (our swim instructors) have been wonderful, patient and kind as they try to teach me to swim. They are the best. We also do water aerobics with instructor Jessica Fox, who also is the best. We have not only been treated with kindness by her but by all who are in the class.
In a world filled with hate and racism, it is a wonderful blessing to be with friends who see me as a person and who treat me as one of their own. I only hope that if they are ever in a group of white people they will be treated with as much kindness and respect as my husband and I have been.
I hope the Hayes-Taylor YMCA will get the grants it needs to continue being the YMCA that it is now.
The writer lives in Greensboro.
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