Black People Will Swim is teaching people of color how to swim one pool at a time

For Paulana Lamonier, taking a dip in the pool is an activity that brings her joy.
Growing up and taking swimming lessons lead her to swim in college, and that's when Lamonier started to noticed the lack of Black people in the water.
"The stereotype that Black people don’t swim is clearly racist," said Lamonier, who discovered this stereotype from her clients, who she would be giving swimming lessons.
"It stems from slavery they were trying to keep Black People away from water for a number of reasons, so they don’t run away. As time goes on and as Black people started to get more freedom, they were finding ways to keep Black people still out of the water," said Lamonier.
In 2019, Lamonier took to social media to pledge that she was going to teach 30 Black people how to swim after having success with one of her first clients 31-year-old, Yolelda Ira.
Her tweet went viral, with many people of color retweeting and sharing their own personal fears and stories when it came to the stereotype of Black People not being able to swim.
"This movement is important," said Ira, who is now on her sixth lesson with Lamonier and, since starting her lessons, has felt more comfortable at the pool.
"She is bringing it forward and giving people the opportunity that they never grew up with. I just pray that in the future this company will go and more people will take advantage of learning how to swim and breaking the stereotype," said Ira.
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[@Improvemypronunciation]

Love to see it! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

[@tiddybagel]

Seems like you're actually highlighting the stereotype.

[@Pntngbrn]

Historically black people couldn't swim in public pools until the 1970s, and even then people would try to stop you. There was a generation of people who couldn't swim and weren't able to teach their children. It's not perpetuation of a stereotype if you're trying to correct it

[@tiddybagel]

@@Pntngbrn Not perpetuating, but completely validating it.

[@BjtheLawyer_]

@@tiddybagelno, it’s identifying a problem & creating a solution!

[@brianhuffman2070]

​@@BjtheLawyer_ Thank you for having common sense.

[@wilheminaboone1107]

❤

[@SwayzeOnYa12]

Soon as im rid of this dad bod, I'll be on my path to swimming such as Michael Phelps 💯

[@carlitavega2314]

Start WITH the dad bod! Swimming will help you gain muscle.

[@olgadavila8761]

Cannot understand it at all : What does color got to do with it ??

[@carlitavega2314]

I'm going to assume that you're not in the United States. Maybe you didn't pay attention to the explanation that the people in the video gave.

[@siristarburst9]

Right?

[@siristarburst9]

​@@carlitavega2314 whatever. America is ughh

[@siristarburst9]

​@@carlitavega2314 you all make everything about the racist white perspective YET you treat your own so badly. You treat we outsiders even worse! I've been in the music industry for 35yrs & the abuse by black celebs was VICIOUS! Even just a week ago ..

[@birb5306]

For many years, it was illegal for black people to swim because of segregation. Therefore, many younger people whose families were affected by that don’t know how to swim because their parents couldn’t teach them.

[@siristarburst9]

Really? There's no "stereotype to smash". Please STOP making swimming about race. Everything about African Americans is always connected to a "white racist perspective". Its annoying! Here in Canada we all swim. Or not; whatever.. My sister did synchronized swimming

[@carlitavega2314]

They are not in Canada. Research the history of this here in the United States. If you knew the history here, you would know that what you typed is incorrect.

[@birb5306]

In Canada, it was never illegal for certain people to go to pools based on their skin color. Canada and the United States are different. Their history is different.

[@carlitavega2314]

@birb5306 correct. Cement was poured into pools here. Racism is the reason so many public pools were closed, and people started putting them in their back yards.

[@paz413]

Is not racist my dear, Black people have more muscle than fat. They don't float as easily as other races. Look at the science behind black people's remarkable achievements in many sports that require muscles. Please don't turn the good that you're doing into negative.

[@tiddybagel]

It's not physiological, it's due to lack of access to places to swim.