The single story for African Americans are that they are very athletic, but cannot swim. They are known to struggle in the water and start drowning, which makes it seem like they are completely helpless near water. When I first searched on Google that African Americans can swim, there were many articles titled that African Americans Cannot Swim or Why African Americans do not Swim? There were also videos of African Americans struggling in the pool. In every form of media, African Americans are being made fun of because they apparently struggle when they are in water. This makes it seem the second an African American is near water, they freak out because they fear drowning.
After doing more research on African Americans and swimming, I came across articles and pictures sharing that they can swim just like anyone else. Ethnic background does not limit an individual persons ability to learn a new skill such as swimming. The articles I came across talked about how African American competing in swim meets came out successful. There have been multiple African American swimmers that have won Championships in the NCAA and competed in the Olympics. These swimmers have set a new standard for their minority group and are hoping that other African Americans will continue their legacy. Also, In the article on USA Swimming, Charles Chapman crossed the English Channel, braving cold water. He exemplifies that African Americans have the capability of swimming. The discriminatory myth of this specific race not being able to swim is simply just a stereotypical joke that most likely originated from a racist standpoint.
After researching this single story, I came to realize that people should not jump to conclusions and stereotype because of race. It is crazy that people automatically talked down African Americans when it comes to swimming when there has been so much success for them at Division I and II universities. Deconstructive criticism and personal opinions are often what cause people to dislike each other. We should not single someone out because of what might have been said in the past about their race. Anyone can be good or bad at something no matter their ethnicity. It simply matters if they take the time to learn the skills.
This is a really interesting single story! It is so strange to me that people would assume something like African women can't swim.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Detroit and I have heard this stereotype so many times! I think some people who had never tried to swim just believed the stereotype and never even tried to learn. Interesting what a stereotype can do.
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