I took a trip to South Bend Indiana today to see Nikki Giovanni. Little did I know I’d hear a black swimming story.

I’ve been talking about creating a black swim culture here, and I got just a tiny slice of history that explains why it’s so hard. I had the privilege of watching Divided Waters “healing a Community’s Past” tonight.The swim tv above gives you the chance to see this video.

In 1921, the city of South Bend Indiana built a natatorium, or a swimming pool/arena for the public. It was built with city funds and private donations. But it was not open to black people. This presentation just really drove home the lack of access issue. It shows that black people have not always shied away from the water because ‘they can’t swim.’ It shows how eager people were to swim, and how they had no place to do so. How they sometimes turned to dangerous venues in order to get their swim on. This is very different from the idea of folks staying away from the water because of lack of swim skills. But you can see how one would lead to the other. How lack of access could lead to lack of swim skills, which could feed fear, and finally contribute to lack of desire to swim.

I was sickened to see this. How to return to those innocent days when we just wanted to swim or learn to swim? One breath at a time.