The PG Pool is racist [MD]

[Anonymous]

The waiting list shuts out white people? How?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many of the dues paying members of this pool saved it from bankruptcy. The community should thank us.

Why would people be thankful to you for saving a facility that they are not allowed to use?

Why didn’t you join it and pay to save it. No one stopped you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I mean, for the 2 adults and 2 kids, the membership fee is $650/year. Given the strong correlation in the DC area of race with income, is that fee something that Black community members can afford?

This isn't some luxury pool, btw. It looks like it barely scrapes by.

Well it's a chicken and egg thing isn't it.

If people like you think Black people can't afford the pool, they won't accept Black people as members.

Also, it's not cheap for most families, even those that can afford it. If you were Black, would it be a priority to pay for a pool with such recent racist history?

Probably not when they can go to the free DC pools instead. Pools need money to function- so you either have public pools subsidized by the local jurisdictions or you have private pools where the costs are covered entirely by its members. It would be great if the PG government would build more pools so there were more accessible and affordable options available for its residents.

And the other PP is right that the long waitlist is a somewhat recent development. By the way some people talk you’d think the pool was entirely comprised of legacy members and black residents have had no opportunity to join.

You know that not all Black people are poor right? And racial disparities are not just about socioeconomic differences?

DP. Of course, generally. But in Mt. Rainier, the lower income families definitely skew toward people of color. The single family homes are pretty evenly distributed among white, black, and latino owners, but a large portion of the Mt. Rainier citizenry is in the large apartment complexes that are almost all black and latino (although more black, I think). I'm sure the apartment dwellers have far less income. BTW, the large apartment complex right next to the PG Pool has its own pool, although I rarely see anyone in it. It doesn't have a life guard, so I don't know if that's cause or effect or irrelevant to usage.

The apartment pool isn't operational most of the time, probably because these are low-income apartments.

It must be sad for all the Black and Brown children in these Mount Rainier apartments to look out the window and watch all of these white kids cool off from the horrific heat in your pay-to-play pool (PG Pool) across the street.

Why is the lack of apartment pool an issue for PG Pool. If the apartments are low income, will the residents pay $650 to join a pool?

Will the brown kids you mention only look at white kids in the pool while ignoring the brown and black kids in the same pool? I don’t get it.

Your rage is outdated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:You guys all keep fighting over this crap and watch the US fall deeper into a theocracy. This is the stuff that seriously makes people turn and vote GOP.

It’s manufactured drama, but sure, there always stupid people who will flock to a different political party over manufactured drama.

The problem is that getting all excited about this stupid pool and proposing ways to force a “fix” on a problem within a private pool that hasn’t show any actual discriminatory practices is the kind of thing that alienates people who would otherwise champion causes that actually address real problems.

It’s the focus on crap like this that leave even leftists rolling their eyes and giving up on supporting real organizations and candidates.

Amen.

Plus a million

Agree.

I suspect this thread is the creation of a MAGA troll.

+100

Really weird language. And no way does the person live in those apartments.

[Anonymous]

Why aren't there more community, public-funded pools in PG? Pay to play graft?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why aren't there more community, public-funded pools in PG? Pay to play graft?

There are a lot already: https://pgparks.com/1023/Facilities

[Anonymous]

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.

I am willing to bet you're a troll from NoVa

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The waiting list shuts out white people? How?

It doesn't shut out anyone of any particular race or sex. It shuts out anyone who put their name on the list more recently. It doesn't really shut them out per say, the wait list is just like 10 years or more long currently for people just signing up. I don't really know how long the wait is now, but I put my name on the list in 2009 and finally got in a couple years ago. It's a completely anonymous list.

[Anonymous]

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.

I am willing to bet you're a troll from NoVa

When going through $ issues, they took memberships from ANYONE who could pay the fees. You could have been purple for all they knew, they don't ask your race, sex, or anything else. It's a shame the waiting list is so long now, but it is not based on any information of the people wanting to join.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:What was the question again? That PGP is racist because it isn't diverse enough? I'm a gay man with a Black child (on the Killer Whales team!) who waited for years on the waitlist before we were admitted. We have never felt anything but accepted at PGP.

I really think this whole thread is trolling.

Probably some of it, but my neighbors really do dislike the pool and this stuff blows up on the listserv every year or so. We can keep dismissing it if we want, but our pool should really do more to not tick off the community.

What exactly does the pool do to tick off the community? Other than not allow everyone to join at once?

Yeah it comes across as bitterness and jealousy more than anything.

Much of this thread reminds me of high school when I did not get invited to the cool parties and did not hang out with the cool folks. Fortunately, I believe I have outgrown my high school insecurities. Clearly, others have not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The waiting list shuts out white people? How?

It doesn't shut out anyone of any particular race or sex. It shuts out anyone who put their name on the list more recently. It doesn't really shut them out per say, the wait list is just like 10 years or more long currently for people just signing up. I don't really know how long the wait is now, but I put my name on the list in 2009 and finally got in a couple years ago. It's a completely anonymous list.

This can’t be right. There wasn’t a wait list until 2011 or so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why aren't there more community, public-funded pools in PG? Pay to play graft?

There are a lot already: https://pgparks.com/1023/Facilities

But that would mean mixing with the riffraff.

[Anonymous]

Incredible that the PG Pool racist meltdown continues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Umm. It’s not a county pool. Anyone can sign up to join. I understand the racist history from 50+ years ago, but there are no legacy memberships handed down. Are there no publicly available county pools in the area? We live in DC and used to go to the indoor splash park in PG when our kids were little, paying the nonresident fees.

The pool is on public land.

It is not on public land.

The land the pool sits on was formerly public land that was provided for free to create an intentionally discriminatory pool community that excluded Black members.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Umm. It’s not a county pool. Anyone can sign up to join. I understand the racist history from 50+ years ago, but there are no legacy memberships handed down. Are there no publicly available county pools in the area? We live in DC and used to go to the indoor splash park in PG when our kids were little, paying the nonresident fees.

The pool is on public land.

It is not on public land.

The land the pool sits on was formerly public land that was provided for free to create an intentionally discriminatory pool community that excluded Black members.

Correct. The ‘Board of County Commissioners for Prince George’s County” sold over 6 acres of land to the PGP in 1956 for $10.