# Do black people swim? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 12, 2005, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-people-swim/330732 "2005-11-12T15:26:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-people-swim/330732/21 "2005-11-13T22:49:12Z")
> [@Martin Hyde](#): > > I think there is a large representation of blacks in basketball, for example, because as a sport it is extremely popular in many black communities, I think this creates a “basketball culture” that leads to a disproportionate number of blacks being in basketball. Of course, some like to point to the idea that maybe it’s genetics, maybe blacks are genetically better at basketball. I don’t know that I accept that idea, because there’s many Eastern European basketball players breaking into the NBA and in general they are just as good as their black counterparts as a group, and they’re typically all quite white. Just to support your point here, if it were true that genetics made you a better basketball player, you’d have to explain why; 1. The the 1920s, Jews were genetically predisposed to playing basketball - back then Jews were disproportionately represented among basketball players - but they aren’t anymore, 2. Why blacks do not comprise the vast majority of elite volleyball players, a sport that requires essentially the same physical gifts as basketball, and 3. What “Genes” it is that makes Canadians so darned good at hockey, a sport they dominate almost as much as blacks dominate basketball. I mean, I think the “Basketball culture” thing is really, really obvious. Look at all the baseball players from the Dominican Republic. That happens because they have a baseball culture. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-people-swim/330732/22 "2005-11-14T00:15:18Z")
> [@ltfire](#): > > Or play polo. [Yes. Yes they do](http://www.worktoride.net/Polo-18.html). ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-people-swim/330732/23 "2005-11-14T00:18:44Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > But do they ski? [Yes. Yes they do.](http://www.nbs.org/) ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-people-swim/330732/24 "2005-11-14T01:52:05Z")
…And so, **TAPIOCA** fires a double barrel shotgun, and takes out **LTFIRE and MILLER** with one shot. I am mortified. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Plan\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Plan\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plan_B)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-people-swim/330732/25 "2005-11-14T02:14:45Z")
This thread got me to thinking back to when I was a competitive swimmer when I was a kid. I seem to remember that there was a nationally ranked African American swimmer named Bruce Barton at that time. Couldn’t find anything quickly on Google about him. Anybody else remeber the name? BTW, if anyone does find it interesting Google did take me to some interesting articles about contemporary black swimmers. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-people-swim/330732/26 "2005-11-14T03:33:23Z")
I don’t understand the OP. I grew up in DC and outside Baltimore and there were always black people at the pool. Isn’t this a function of the community’s demographics? ---
**Author:** ![Diamonds02](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Diamonds02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diamonds02)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-people-swim/330732/27 "2005-11-14T04:09:10Z")
The typical black woman has issues with getting her hair wet. As for black men, I have no idea why many of them do not swim. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-people-swim/330732/28 "2005-11-14T05:29:37Z")
> [@Shoshana](#): > > I don’t understand the OP. I grew up in DC and outside Baltimore and there were always black people at the pool. Isn’t this a function of the community’s demographics? I (the OP) grew up in a small Saskatchewan town. I was quite old the first time I saw a real, live black person. I guess that is indeed a function of a community’s demographics that I don’t know much about black people swimming or getting their hair wet. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-people-swim/330732/29 "2005-11-14T06:25:16Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > I (the OP) grew up in a small Saskatchewan town. I was quite old the first time I saw a real, live black person. I guess that is indeed a function of a community’s demographics that I don’t know much about black people swimming or getting their hair wet. I have to admit that at first I thought the OP was satirical. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-people-swim/330732/30 "2005-11-14T06:27:59Z")
Damn are people really still asking this question. Taking longer than we thought indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-people-swim/330732/31 "2005-11-14T15:04:18Z")
Well, see my post #28. Some of us don’t have the rich resources of black people that y’all enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-people-swim/330732/32 "2005-11-14T15:12:32Z")
> [@pool](#): > > Damn are people really still asking this question. Taking longer than we thought indeed. That’s pretty much what I thought when I read the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-people-swim/330732/33 "2005-11-14T15:41:59Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > Well, see my post #28. Some of us don’t have the rich resources of black people that y’all enjoy. I understand that to some extent, but here’s the thing: black people are, well, people. We do pretty much everything that other people do (besides the obivous, like join the kkk\* etc.). Now black people might not be well represented in some activities, but there will always be at least a few out there who are interested/ or participate in almost everything you can imagine. If someone says “we don’t do xyz”, they just mean that the people in their circle don’t do xyz. \*There was a news article awhile back about a black person who did try to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-people-swim/330732/34 "2005-11-14T15:48:14Z")
Where I grew up (Glenville neighborhood of Cleveland), I had access to a number of local public city/YMCA pools. I learned to swim fairly well, well enough that my best friend and I would regularly swim in Lake Erie well past the no-wake zones and often get invited aboard the boats of people out fishing or having lunch. It was pretty cool, although quite dangerous. But hey we were young, dumb, and full of … For the record, I’m black, if anybody hasen’t figured that out yet 😃 . I’ve never been skiing, though. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-people-swim/330732/35 "2005-11-14T16:00:33Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I have to admit that at first I thought the OP was satirical. Ooops. I did too. Since we’re being serious, what about the pinto beans thing? ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-people-swim/330732/36 "2005-11-14T18:40:24Z")
Now, just to defend the OP for a second - I always assumed that as many black people swim, as white people - HOWEVER - I was watching Dr. Phil on Thursday (Friday?) and one of the guests was a black lady who doesn’t like dating black men. She was sent out on “blind” dates that were really blind - she had to wear a blindfold so she couldn’t see her dates. Each date she asked if they surfed. The reason? According to her and her black friend (that had busted her for being shallow), she asked about surfing because black people don’t swim and thus if the “blind” dates were black, they wouldn’t surf either. I had no idea what they were talking about, but quite a few of the black audience members were nodding in the affirmative, while the white audience members scratched their heads and looked around in confusion. So - what is my point? The black people not swimming thing seems to be sort of a black gag or something. I dunno. FWIW - the entire Jamacian swim team is black - I know because I checked. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-people-swim/330732/37 "2005-11-14T19:10:57Z")
> [@Tapioca Dextrin](#): > > > [@ltfire](#): > > > > Or play polo. > > [Yes. Yes they do](http://www.worktoride.net/Polo-18.html). Okay, they swim, and they play polo. But do they play _water polo_? What about Marco Polo? ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-people-swim/330732/38 "2005-11-14T19:53:29Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Okay, they swim, and they play polo. > > But do they play _water polo_? > > What about Marco Polo? Or the Biathalon? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-people-swim/330732/39 "2005-11-14T20:25:06Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > But do they play _water polo_? > > What about Marco Polo? What’s that you say? [Marco Water Polo](http://video.cdc.gov/ramgen/nccdphp/verb/Marco_Water_Polo.rm)? 😃 NB links goes to small video ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-people-swim/330732/40 "2005-11-14T20:31:32Z")
I could swear that the media focused heavily on several black youth in New Orleans, swimming while carrying DVD players and flat-screen TVs. Paradoxically, perpetuating one stereotype while shattering another! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-people-swim/330732.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-people-swim/330732.md?page=3)