In the news again: racism is alive and well in the United States.

Members of a Philadelphia area swim club complained heartily when a day care center brought a group of children to swim in the club’s pool.  The reason: some of those children were black.  The center’s money refunded with no explanation.

I first read about this here, but the major news networks quickly picked up the story.  

Swim club president John Duesler said in a statement released to the media, “There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club.”

I don’t know if he meant “complexion” literally, but he might as well have.

It makes me physically ill to see this kind of thing happen.  Perhaps no one thought racism was completely eradicated, especially considering its persistence in mainstream cinema, but it’s never easier to swallow when it happens again.

Luckily, people are doing something about this.  From the CNN article: 

“The stepfather of one of the children was filing a complaint against the club with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, the panel’s chairman, Stephen Glassman, said Thursday.”