Study: 60% of black and Latino kids can’t swim
Posted May 2nd, 2008 by minortopics | via blogs.usatoday.comBut not for the reason you might think. The obvious reason would seem to be that inner city minority kids don’t have the same opportunities to learn as their white, suburban counterparts, not that they “can’t” or “won’t”.
How come? Black and Latino kids “are six times more likely to be part of a family in which neither parent nor child can swim,” according to the study commissioned by USA Swimming. In January and February, the University of Memphis interviewed 1,772 children ages 6 to 16 in six U.S. metropolitan areas. Two-thirds were black or Latino. Non-swimmers: 58% of blacks, 56% of Latinos and 31% of whites.
The survey found that “children do not buy in to the stereotype that minorities don’t or can’t swim. When asked whether they believed swimming was “just for white people,” over two-thirds of African-American and Hispanic/Latino children aged six to 16 disagreed (68% and 71% respectively), more than 40% of each group disagreed strongly.”

