Why can't African Americans swim? Is there a physiological reason why some people seem to have a harder time swimming than others, or is it simply a matter of their surroundings?
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Name : Dan S., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 30, City : Chesterfield Township, State : MI Country : United States, Occupation : Engineer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, For the same reason white men can't jump. I use this analogy because it's obviously not true. Most people's physical endeavors stem from what they have access to. Most poor inner-city folks (a great number who happen to be black) do not have access to pools - just as most of your affluent kids are apt not to play hoops. You can pretty much observe ethnic trends in every sport, from baseball to rock climbing. But what's nice is that we've seen that ethnicity has nothing to do with physical abilities.
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Name : D-Nicholson31796, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 36, City : Seattle, State : WA Country : United States, Occupation : Project Manager, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, From my experience, a lot of black people can swim. However, I do believe there is a higher proportion of non-swimming black people than whites. This does not have a physiological explanation; it's entirely cultural. White people are more likely to live in suburbs and neighborhoods that have community pools. They are also more likely to have the space and money to afford backyard swimming pools, and I think it's safe to say that they may also frequent lakes and beaches more.
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Name : Tish24630, Race : Black/African American, City : Newark, State : NJ Country : United States, I am African-American and can swim. Almost all of my African-American friends can swim. Almost everyone in my African-American family can swim. The only person in my family who cannot swim is my father. Why? Because he almost drowned as a child and is afraid of the water. I don't think that has anything to do with his racial background.
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Name : Alicia31399, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Age : 31, City : Seattle, State : WA Country : United States, Occupation : Attorney, Social class : Middle class, Last year, when taking swimming lessons, I was having trouble staying afloat. My instructor remarked that it could be because of my body composition, and that the body composition of many African Americans had the same effect: an inability to float easily.
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Name : T.C., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 32, City : Phoenix, State : AZ Country : United States, Occupation : Web Developer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, When I was a child living in south Florida, all of our beaches were segregated. The few beaches that were set aside for blacks were somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and it was a real hassle to get to them. As an example, in Fort Lauderdale, access to the 'black' beach was by ferry boat. The inevitable result of all of this, at least where I lived, was that blacks had no opportunity to learn to swim. If anyone thinks blacks could have instead learned to swim in fresh water, that, too, was impossible. That's where the alligators live.
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Name : PappaJerry, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 66, City : Tampa, State : FL Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, It's more likely that you, a white male, haven't been around black people swimming. If there weren't a lot of black people in your neighborhood, as a kid or even now, you wouldn't SEE them swimming, but that doesn't mean they don't swim. White, middle-class neighborhoods aren't the most welcoming places if you are a black person in America looking for a place to swim. Hit a local water park (Six Flags, etc.) and you'll see lots of people swimming.
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Name : Evandra, Gender : F, City : Boston, State : MA Country : United States, I think that question should be rephrased, or at the very least, more thought put into how vague and generalized it is. I am a 28-year-old female who has been swimming since age 3 and does 20 laps nightly in my apartment complex pool (weather permitting). The key words here are my 'apartment complex' pool. We actually have one, something that didn't exist when I was a child growing up in rural, segregated Alabama. Fortunately, my mother knew people who were kind enough to allow us to use their pool, and we did from the time all my brothers and sisters were small. Most of my friends who are African American swim often - one competitively for his university. That's just the form of exercise some of us choose.
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Name : Jane, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Bisexual, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 28, City : San Diego, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : Paralegal, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, I've been told that whites, generally, are better swimmers than blacks because their bodies have more sub-cutaneous fat, making them more bouyant. Honestly, until reading your question, I had no idea if there was any truth to it. Go figure.
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Name : Katherine D., Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 24, City : Chicago, State : IL Country : United States, Occupation : Soon to be student, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Lower middle class, I can't swim that well because I didn't have a place to learn. My school didn't have a pool, and the public pools were too crowded to swim in without kicking someone. I did learn the doggie paddle when I went to the Caribbean to visit my family though!
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Name : K-Joseph26913, Gender : F, Race : West-Indian American, Age : 19, City : Bronx, State : NY Country : United States, Occupation : College Student, We had a community pool that cost only a quarter to swim all day. All the kids could swim regardless of ethnicity. However, a lot of the moms of the black kids (especially the girls) would not let them go swimming because of what the water did to their hair. That was back in the day when the only way to straighten hair was to use a hot comb. I, too, wasn't allowed to go swimming a lot because as a blonde, the chlorine turned my hair green! Also, it's all relative. My husband is Hawaiian and swam from infancy. According to him, whites and blacks are lousy swimmers.
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Name : Michelle20553, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 36, City : Somewhere, State : NV Country : United States, Occupation : Analyst, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, Do you mean they can't, or they don't want to? For practical reasons relating to hair care, many African-American women in particular are reluctant to swim.
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Name : Elizabeth25317, Gender : F, City : Champaign, State : IL Country : United States, Here's a little 'secret' about the female half of the race. Water makes straightened African-American hair immediately go kinky again. That's why most black women wouldn't be caught dead dunking our heads in a pool, and will only wet our hair in proximity to various heated appliances. That's the real deal.
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Name : K26964, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, City : Chicago, State : IL Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, Many African Americans have a lower body fat percentage, and men have a lower percentage than women. This makes it more difficult for them to float. As a result, if an untrained white and an untrained black person are dropped in the water, the untrained black person has a greater chance of drowning. I'm not sure this is the only reason, because women have a greater body-fat average than men, but nobody ever talks about the male fear of water. So I think there are other factors involved. It seems logical that swimming training and water sports in general are more accessible to historically middle-class families. Any untrained person is going to be afraid of water, no matter what their race.
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Name : C. Brown, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 28, City : Atlanta, State : GA Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, There are African Americans who swim. You can't say all African Americans can't swim just because you've seen a few who can't or have trouble with it. We're all human, and just like with math, some people get it easily, some with minimal effort, some with a lot of effort, and some not at all.
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Name : Raven, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Pagan, Age : 18, City : Valley Center, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : student, Social class : Middle class, 
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