Not but a few moments ago, I got a disturbing phone call from my good friend Quintero. He called to say that “we were organizing”. I was curious as to what could be so important that “organizing” would become necessary.
Because of my media profession, I know that “organizing” is the secret tongue of folks who “is” now outraged and are looking for a way to make other folks who have done the outrageous, feel their pain. This is not necessarily a violent thing, of course. It’s simply reminiscent of a time we all thought long passed. A time when we actually had leaders by the lot. A time when our lack of civil rights were oft met with a whole bunch of our civil disobedience.
You who know American history of the 40’s,50’s and beyond, know exactly what I’m referring. I’m talking about sit-ins, bus boycotts and marches. Some of these things were bigger than life that all of the world could bear witness to. Some of them were community outfits that more than not ended in horrible violence by the powers that be at the time.
All of these things I’m referring had everything to do with the feelings about race at the time. The feeling that a lighter complexion was somehow superior to a darker complexion. That is, a white person who held all the power and rights in this country was far better off determining the fate of a black or brown person and that the folks of darker hues should be kept in their “place”.
So to hear my good friend utter the words “we are organizing” sent a shutter down my spine as though I was actually old enough to remember what it was like when my parents and grandparents were growing up. I couldn’t possibly. I couldn’t know more than what I’ve read in historical accounts and seen in documentaries. I couldn’t know. I wasn’t there. But somehow, my reaction is telling a much different story.
It turns out, we aren’t that far removed from what our parents and grandparents experienced. As it turns out, the place I’ve called home for most of my life, Bucks County, to be specific, is channeling a very dark period of American History and are just about as brazen about it as they can possibly be.
Uh, Excuse me? Did you just say that the 60 Black and Hispanic children from the North East of Philadelphia camp cannot, in fact, swim at your “private” swim club because they would change the “complexion” of the club and may “hurt” the white children??? Even though everybody paid their money and simply wanted to swim? Uh, excuse me? Did you just clench your purse and snatch all the white kids out of the pool when the brown kids walked in, like them white folk did in the movie “PRIDE”?
Clearly. Somebody of a paler complexion has things ffffd up. The fact that we are here in 2009 and the fact that I have to even be tapping these things out on my keyboard is making me want to throw up in my mouth. NBC10 is covering the story and has it prominent on their website, but the fact that people can be so cavalier about their discrimination practices, as though they serve a power higher than themselves is beyond miffing. If pissed were a color, I’d be sweating crimson red right now and breathing fire.
And yet, with this anger, as a media personality, I also have a responsibility to help with the organizing. To keep you abreast of what’s happens from here and try to keep a steady hand as I type these words: “we are organizing”.
Back in the day, I’m sure those words didn’t send shivers down the spines of the folks we were organizing against at first, because they all thought us inferior human beings. But once they found themselves in the midst of the truth of the situation, the shivers came. I don’t doubt that at all. How else can you explain the loss of so many of our greatest leaders?
I say these things in complete reverence of our bittersweet Civil Rights past. I also say them in knowing that once we do officially “organize”, The Valley Swim Club In Lower Moreland Township, Bucks County, won’t stand a chance in hell to keep its doors open one more day past then. Mark my words. And I’ve included their phone number for good measure.
I’m sure a few hundred thousand phone calls and e-mails to them and the State Officials who represent the area, about their issues with “complexion” at their swim club will set more than a few things straight. In the meantime, I’ll keep you posted. Don’t just sit there with your mouth open!!! Please Pass this along to everyone in your network. Thank you…
Valley Swim Club
22 Tomlinson Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006
Club Phone Number:
215-947-0700
Club E-mail:
info@thevalleyclub.com
Patrick J. Murphy (D)
8th District
Website: www.patrickmurphy.house.gov
Bristol Office
414 Mill St.
Bristol, PA 19007
215-826-1963
Fax: 215-826-1997
Doylestown Office
60 North Main St.
Garden Level
Doylestown, PA 18901
215-348-1194
Fax: 215-348-1449
Arlen Specter (D)
Website: www.specter.senate.gov
Philadelphia Office
600 Arch Street
Suite 9400
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Tel: 215-597-7200
Fax: 215-597-0406