The artists live about 15 minutes away from their local pool. The pool is located one Township over from the Township they currently live in. For years, locals from all Townships would swim at this local pool every summer. This is the first year the pool is closed to the citizens who live in the neighboring Townships.
The reason the pool gave for closing it off to the neighboring Townships is due to “CDC guidelines.” Did the CDC guidelines say “Local pools should be closed off to neighbors?” I can almost guarantee the CDC did NOT say that “Local pools should be closed to their neighbors.” Apparently the neighbors who are black and poor are more susceptible to the deadly pathogen but those who live in the high tax bracket where the pool is located are somehow safer.
What I find interesting is this pool went straight from ‘We’re closed due to Covid’ to ‘You’re not allowed in.’ Most public accommodation sites are at least covering up this OBVIOUS act of classism and racism by demanding proof of a vaccine somehow.
They also mention that deck chairs have been removed to maintain health and safety. If it were a real pandemic, or a real pathogen or a real health threat, deck chairs would be the last of their worries. And if they were to assume it was a real pandemic wouldn’t they be more concerned about people bringing their own lawn chairs or deck chairs from home into their pool area? How do we know the chairs being brought from home aren’t crawling with a pathogen?
The black and poor families that save up their money and look forward to going to this pool every year are in for a shock when they are turned away for the simple fact that they don’t live in the Township where the pool is located. But I can almost guarantee that when they are turned away due to “CDC guidelines” (there are no CDC guidelines that would ever say this. Even for the CDC this would be too obvious) they will simply shrug it off and accept it as The Truth.
I’m wondering if Black Lives Matter is going to kick up a fuss over this?
This is a microscopic example of class war. What’s even more stunning to me is when I mentioned it to an unemployed single mother who lives with her parents in the neighboring Township that is no longer allowed to visit the pool, she said “Well, the CDC said so. So, it’s for our safety.” This is the same person that told me it was perfectly acceptable for a bicycle cop to follow her around the neighborhood because it was “For her safety.” This is also the same 31 year old who couldn’t get the Covid shot fast enough when it was offered to her at the local grade school where her mother works.
I did talk to a couple young black kids in the area and they said. “It’s closed to us now because we live here? There’s no where else to swim and the summers get really hot. Where are WE supposed to swim?”
I believe this situation is an example of the kind of class divide we will be seeing all over the country. But, because it’s under the guise of a “pandemic” or “CDC guidelines” no one will question it or push back.
I also find it interesting that the Township where I live recently increased its police force. Could it be that since the black and poor kids who live in my neighborhood who will no longer have a pool to play in during the hot summer will be under the watchful eye of patrol cars now? This township has a history of stop and frisk that would make Bloomberg’s stop and frisk policy in New York a few years back look like a cake walk. This neighborhood also doesn’t have playgrounds for the kids to play on or blow off steam.
If you can’t see this is one of the most obvious and egregious acts of classism and racism then you haven’t been paying attention to the last few hundred years.
Click here to listen to the artists have a quick discussion about this: http://www.book-of-ours.com/audio/separating-rich-from-poor.mp4
And now no pool in the summer.
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