The PG Pool is racist [MD]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://streetcarsuburbs.news/making-a-splash-prince-georges-pool/

?? That article is supposed to prove what? it doesn't support your (OP?) claim at all. Come on OP.

https://pgpool.org/about/the-raymond-bowlding-pavilion/

OP, are you in favor of the efforts the PG Pool has made, evidenced by the link just posted, to come to terms with, publicly, its racist, segregationist past? What actions would you like for the pool to take now.

Is your goal to get it closed down? To shame the PG Pool on the basis of their own web site which is clearly not trying to hide this history?

I would like to see this pool weight the current waitlist for this pool based on zip code + adding more community days for the pool.

-MtR Resident

This sounds very reasonable, not sure why this pool wouldn't do that. Seems like it would alleviate a lot of headaches for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When will the Prince's George's Pool in Mount Rainier open it's doors to the community? See here: https://pgpool.org

In Mount Rainier, there's a large private, members-only pool that few people in Mount Rainier can actually join. The wait list is like 10 years long! It's called the PG Pool. Most of the members seem to be white and they come from DC/MoCo.

How could this be? The official line from this racist pool has been that membership dropped during the 1980s and 1990s and they had to open it up to people from outside the community (read: non-POCs from NE DC and MoCo). This is a BS racist line, imho.

The real reason: This pool was "whites-only" until 1975. That's not a typo... 1975. Shocker alert: running a segregated pool in a majority-Black county isn't a great way to increase your membership roles. So this weird pool looked elsewhere for members - mostly white people from outside the area.

I wish there was more news coverage on how these racist private pools in MD still operate and essentially segregate themselves from the broader community. End rant.

With claims like that you will have to provide proof or a link.

NP, but:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2015/09/04/forty-years-later-a-maryland-pool-will-honor-the-man-who-integrated-it/

When Raymond Bowlding Sr.’s children wanted to swim at the local pool in their Mount Rainier neighborhood in 1974, they were denied membership because they were black. The Prince George’s Swimming Pool — a private pool that opened in 1956 — required new members to be sponsored by two existing members. The pool was all white, and these members apparently liked it that way, effectively blocking any black people from joining.

Making it difficult doesn't mean he was denied because he was black.

🧐🧐🧐

[Anonymous]

DP here. I'm outraged at some of these responses. This pool sounds racist to me. I just sent a note to Fox 5. Others should too ([e-mail]).

Someone should expose this racist pool and their apparently racist members.

[Anonymous]

We're a mixed race family, and we joined the pool about 15 years ago, when we first moved to Mt. Rainier and there was no wait list.

There has been a really dramatic turnover of membership since we joined. 15 years ago it was a lot white boomers with teen kids. I rarely see those families anymore and instead see many more of my neighbors and friends from the larger community, most of whom moved to here in the 10 years.

Lots of families of color now, mixed families, black, latino, and white. Does it accurately reflect the demographics of the area? No, but it gets closer to it every year. The cost of membership will prevent that from truly happening, but the membership dues are necessary to the operation of the pool. At this point, it's more an economic problem.

OP, if you had posted this 7 or 8 years ago, I would've agreed that the preponderance of white families was troubling (and it was), but your complaint is frankly outdated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're a mixed race family, and we joined the pool about 15 years ago, when we first moved to Mt. Rainier and there was no wait list.

There has been a really dramatic turnover of membership since we joined. 15 years ago it was a lot white boomers with teen kids. I rarely see those families anymore and instead see many more of my neighbors and friends from the larger community, most of whom moved to here in the 10 years.

Lots of families of color now, mixed families, black, latino, and white. Does it accurately reflect the demographics of the area? No, but it gets closer to it every year. The cost of membership will prevent that from truly happening, but the membership dues are necessary to the operation of the pool. At this point, it's more an economic problem.

OP, if you had posted this 7 or 8 years ago, I would've agreed that the preponderance of white families was troubling (and it was), but your complaint is frankly outdated.

PP again, weighting the waitlist by zip code is a great idea. I'd much rather have families from close in be able to join.

Also, when my kids were younger, we enrolled them in summer camp at Joe's Movement Emporium. It was pretty inexpensive, and they spent afternoons at the pool as part of the camp. Not sure if Joe's still has an agreement with PG Pool, but if so, that's one less expensive way to get your kids access to the pool.

[Anonymous]

I think some of these pro-racist pool responses are contradictory:

1.) PG Pool is a community pool and DC/MoCo are part of the community, too!

2.) PG Pool is a private pool and the community should just leave us alone to let in who want.

3.) It's diverse and a large number of members are from the community!

4.) We don't track demographics or zip codes of members.


The weighting by zip code on the existing waitlist seems like the most reasonable solution for this pool to not be accused of racism going forward.

[Anonymous]

I think any family living in New Haven should get automatic entry to Yale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are two DC public pools that people in Mr Rainier can go to: Hagans and Langdon. The real problem is that PG County hasn’t built enough pools.

What PG County chooses to do or not do has zero bearing on why this specific pool has continued to exclude Black people, even the very people that live in the apartments across the street.

How precisely has PG Pool excluded Black people? By requiring them to join the wait list? By not jumping them to the top of the wait list?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are two DC public pools that people in Mr Rainier can go to: Hagans and Langdon. The real problem is that PG County hasn’t built enough pools.

What PG County chooses to do or not do has zero bearing on why this specific pool has continued to exclude Black people, even the very people that live in the apartments across the street.

But it hasn't excluded anyone on a discriminatory or racist basis. That's just a lie you're telling.

By capping membership, the pool favors white incumbents and resists integration, locking in and pulling the past racist and exclusionary policies into the present. Good to know that you enjoy racial segregation, because that’s what you are defending.

You think a membership cap is racist? Good lord.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think some of these pro-racist pool responses are contradictory:

1.) PG Pool is a community pool and DC/MoCo are part of the community, too!

2.) PG Pool is a private pool and the community should just leave us alone to let in who want.

3.) It's diverse and a large number of members are from the community!

4.) We don't track demographics or zip codes of members.


The weighting by zip code on the existing waitlist seems like the most reasonable solution for this pool to not be accused of racism going forward.

Nobody here is “pro-racist” and none of those reasons are contradictory.

Stop making false accusations. It’s not going to get you what you want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When will the Prince's George's Pool in Mount Rainier open it's doors to the community? See here: https://pgpool.org

In Mount Rainier, there's a large private, members-only pool that few people in Mount Rainier can actually join. The wait list is like 10 years long! It's called the PG Pool. Most of the members seem to be white and they come from DC/MoCo.

How could this be? The official line from this racist pool has been that membership dropped during the 1980s and 1990s and they had to open it up to people from outside the community (read: non-POCs from NE DC and MoCo). This is a BS racist line, imho.

The real reason: This pool was "whites-only" until 1975. That's not a typo... 1975. Shocker alert: running a segregated pool in a majority-Black county isn't a great way to increase your membership roles. So this weird pool looked elsewhere for members - mostly white people from outside the area.

I wish there was more news coverage on how these racist private pools in MD still operate and essentially segregate themselves from the broader community. End rant.

Your humble opinion would be wrong. We joined the PG pool in around 2010 (and left, because we moved, around 2014), and there was no wait list. None. We just signed up. The popularity increased after that, and the wait list began.

But, I am puzzled about your reasoning. The pool is racist because it has a wait list? Or doesn't limit its membership to people who live nearby?

Maybe because the pool was segregated for a long time and is now filled with white people who don’t live in the city. See: https://www.teamunify.com/Home.jsp?_tabid_=0&team=recpmslpgpkw

Love seeing all these progressives tryin to talk around their racist pool policies when it benefits them. PG County ain’t your colony.

Continuing to return to "it was segregated until 1975!" is baseless, because the pool had open admissions with no wait list for years, if not decades, after that. It is historically troubling, but completely irrelevant to the "issue" now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think some of these pro-racist pool responses are contradictory:

1.) PG Pool is a community pool and DC/MoCo are part of the community, too!

2.) PG Pool is a private pool and the community should just leave us alone to let in who want.

3.) It's diverse and a large number of members are from the community!

4.) We don't track demographics or zip codes of members.


The weighting by zip code on the existing waitlist seems like the most reasonable solution for this pool to not be accused of racism going forward.

The OP was unreasonable. A whole host of people have replied to point out many of the ways how. Different people with different points!

Also, which point were contradictory above? I don't see any which contradict.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DP here. I'm outraged at some of these responses. This pool sounds racist to me. I just sent a note to Fox 5. Others should too ([e-mail]).

Someone should expose this racist pool and their apparently racist members.

Compelling reasoning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are two DC public pools that people in Mr Rainier can go to: Hagans and Langdon. The real problem is that PG County hasn’t built enough pools.

What PG County chooses to do or not do has zero bearing on why this specific pool has continued to exclude Black people, even the very people that live in the apartments across the street.

Anyone can sign up to be on the waiting list. That’s not exclusion or racism.

So, long lines to vote in Black neighbors isn't exclusionary or racist either?

What you’re arguing for is more PUBLIC pools. Are long lines outside exclusive clubs racist, when anyone can get in line and be admitted?

When they have less time to wait in such lines, yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think some of these pro-racist pool responses are contradictory:

1.) PG Pool is a community pool and DC/MoCo are part of the community, too!

2.) PG Pool is a private pool and the community should just leave us alone to let in who want.

3.) It's diverse and a large number of members are from the community!

4.) We don't track demographics or zip codes of members.


The weighting by zip code on the existing waitlist seems like the most reasonable solution for this pool to not be accused of racism going forward.

I don't think #2 reflects any of the comments because it implies race is considered in application when membership is strictly first-com, first-serve, and has been for decades.

No one has said #4, either, and you can't expect to get demographic stats from random posters on DCUM unless one of those random posters also happens to be a board member of the pool. Obviously, the pool has zip codes.