A Viral TikTok Video Explains The Painful Historical past Attributed To The Stereotype of Black Individuals Not Swimming

A TikTok user’s declaration of the infamous black stereotype has gone viral. TikToker Maya Echols, a model signed by IMG Worldwide, explained the historical impact of why blacks don’t swim.

Sister2Sister reported that Echols opened the video with a shocking statistic from a study written in 2017 from the University of Memphis and Las Vegas. The report highlighted the disproportionate number of black children versus white and Hispanic children who never learned to swim.

“64 percent of black children don’t know how to swim,” she said in the video.

Echols went on to explain that black swimmers faced humiliation and violence when they tried to go to public pools, saying, “Public swimming facilities such as pools and beaches have been segregated by race.”

“My grandma didn’t swim for this very reason. Let’s not pretend that blacks got their rights long ago, ”the TikTok headline reads.

@mayaecholsMy grandma didn’t swim for that exact reason, let’s not pretend blacks got their rights a long time ago. ♬ Original sound – Maya Echols

She also mentioned the terrifying truth about the journey of enslaved Africans to this country.

Echols also revealed the sad truth behind white’s perception of blacks – even after public swimming pools were desegregated. Whites viewed blacks as unclean.

“White people would come to these pools and throw detergent or acid in the pools while black children or families were swimming in them,” she said.

“This took decades and created a widespread fear of pools within the black community.”

Echols ended the TikTok video with a terrible memory of the traumatic experience. Black people walked through public swimming pools.

She added footage of a white hotel manager pouring cleaning chemicals into a swimming pool when blacks demonstrated against separate pools. James Brock attacked these brave individuals by starting a chemical war in the Monson Motor Lodge pool. The racist incident occurred on June 18, 1964 in St. Augustine, Florida.

Echols linked the horrific experiences together to shed light on the misunderstandings about blacks and their harrowing encounters with swimming pools.

“Over the generations,” concluded Echols, “not swimming became a common trait in the black community, and parents did not teach their children to swim because they never swam.”

The TikTok video received 1.2 million views and is a painful reminder of the not-too-distant past.

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