The PG Pool is racist [MD]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most MoCo pools have neighborhood or zip code restrictions. That is, you need to live close to the pool to be a member. That’s how it works with the one our family goes to. If you buy a house in the neighborhood, you can join the list or the home’s seller can pass on their membership to you. You can’t pass on your membership to a family member who lives outside the neighborhood.

It sounds like the issue with PGP is that the pool is dominated by outsiders from DC and MoCo. No way will that group be incentivized to change the by-laws to prioritize neighborhood residents or disallow passing down their membership to a family member. Essentially, you have a pool that’s been colonized by outsiders.

Ugly optics.

The pool is very close to the border with DC. Disallowing people from DC wouldn't actually make sense if you're trying for a neighborhood pool. Adding zip code restrictions to nearby zip codes would make more sense, but it could be argued that DC residents in nearby neighborhoods that are closer to the pool are more part of the neighborhood than people in Hyattsville who live nowhere near the pool.

DC people: we hate people with MD and DC plates that come into our city

Also DC people: our “neighborhood” fully extends beyond the DC line and well into Maryland.

so so true!

[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.

That means they can do whatever they want. It doesn't make them racists. Cut it out with this racists sh*t.

[Anonymous]

I find it funny that people who would never deign to live in PGC happily come to this pool.

[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.

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

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

I'm not the OP, just sending that link for some historical context. Please clam down.

[Anonymous]

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.

I'm not the OP, just sending that link for some historical context. Please clam down.

or calm down.

[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.

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most MoCo pools have neighborhood or zip code restrictions. That is, you need to live close to the pool to be a member. That’s how it works with the one our family goes to. If you buy a house in the neighborhood, you can join the list or the home’s seller can pass on their membership to you. You can’t pass on your membership to a family member who lives outside the neighborhood.

It sounds like the issue with PGP is that the pool is dominated by outsiders from DC and MoCo. No way will that group be incentivized to change the by-laws to prioritize neighborhood residents or disallow passing down their membership to a family member. Essentially, you have a pool that’s been colonized by outsiders.

Ugly optics.

can a pool be “colonized”? lol. the pool would not exist if outside members hadn’t joined.

people who are mad about this need to advocate to PG County to build more public pools.

[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.

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]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most MoCo pools have neighborhood or zip code restrictions. That is, you need to live close to the pool to be a member. That’s how it works with the one our family goes to. If you buy a house in the neighborhood, you can join the list or the home’s seller can pass on their membership to you. You can’t pass on your membership to a family member who lives outside the neighborhood.

It sounds like the issue with PGP is that the pool is dominated by outsiders from DC and MoCo. No way will that group be incentivized to change the by-laws to prioritize neighborhood residents or disallow passing down their membership to a family member. Essentially, you have a pool that’s been colonized by outsiders.

Ugly optics.

can a pool be “colonized”? lol. the pool would not exist if outside members hadn’t joined.

people who are mad about this need to advocate to PG County to build more public pools.

White saviors are going to white savior.

[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.

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