(hip hop beat)
- [Dulce] Public swimming pools,
they're how we drink pee from strangers.
But chances are,
you've never been to a public swimming pool.
Which is too bad because America used to be full of them.
But guess what came along and took them all away?
That's right, racism.
(suspenseful sound)
See, after World War I,
public swimming pools became very popular.
Cities across the country started building them.
And these weren't just any pools,
they had sand, grassy lawns.
Some were even bigger than football fields
that could hold 10,000 people.
Which I guess was supposed to be like a giant pool party,
but that many people sharing the water just sounds nasty.
What's up y'all, this is DJ E coli.
But back in the 1930s, people loved it.
Going to the pool was as popular as going to the movies,
which isn't saying much because movies back then sucked.
Every movie was about a man's struggle
to grow a full mustache.
So America hung out at the public pool instead.
Unfortunately, black people weren't allowed
into this national pool party.
Cities didn't build pools in black neighborhoods
and white people didn't want us in their neighborhood pools.
Partially they were concerned about black men intermingling
with white women in such a sexual atmosphere.
I mean, I know it might sound ridiculous to think
of a public pool as a sexual atmosphere,
but this was the 1920s.
They were seeing knees for the first time.
I'm talking the top, the bottom, that little knuckle part
in the middle, the whole circle.
Have you seen knees? (groans) hot.
So lots of communities banned black people from swimming
in white pools.
And in some cities like Pittsburgh,
the police just let white swimmers
literally beat black swimmers out of the water.
At one pool in St Louis,
white people got so violent beating black people
that they eventually closed the whole pool for good.
Imagine being so racist
that you get your own pool shut down.
Just sweating your balls off like,
well, at least that black kid can't swim either.
Ha ha ha ha ha oh, someone call the hospital.
I think I got the heat stroke.
(sirens blaring)
But all that changed with the Civil Rights Movement.
You know how activists desegregated diners with sit-ins?
Well they also desegregated public pools
with wade-ins and dive-ins.
Although if you had just eaten, it was an
oh, wait 20 minutes in.
And all this activism really pissed off the racists.
Protestors got arrested, beaten, and one hotel owner
even dumped acid into his pool to get protesters out.
Look at this piece of shit in this ugly suit.
Although back then waists had to be that high
'cause men kept all their racism in their gut.
Unfortunately for the racists, the Civil Rights Movement
secured passage of the Civil Rights Act,
and public pools were ordered to be desegregated.
But since racist white people were no longer allowed
to fight, they chose flight.
Into the private swim club.
Since the Civil Rights Act didn't apply
to private membership clubs,
white people could make their pools members only.
And make sure their members were as white as a bar of soap
at a Kid Rock concert.
I'm just kidding, there is no soap at Kid Rock concerts.
From the 1950s until today,
cities shut down their public pools,
while private swim clubs and backyard pools
popped up all over the United States,
mostly in white suburbs.
The legacy of this racism is the reason
you can't walk through a suburb in the summertime
without hearing 10 kids looking for some fool named Marco.
It's been 700 years, Marco been dead.
And it's this legacy that has shaped the disparities
around race and swimming today.
Because of a lack of places to swim,
black people don't swim as much.
And that means that black children
are at a higher risk of drowning.
But losing all these public pools hurt everybody else too.
We could all be spending a whole summer at the pool,
but because of racism,
the only public place we can go to cool off is the library.
And nobody wants to see a Speedo in the periodicals room.
Which is why I say let's bring public pools back America.
Let's rebuild all those big ass pools,
but this time with equal access for all.
Then we can all swim together in peace and harmony
and rub sunscreen on each other's knees.