Thread: City Recruits Minority Lifeguards Even if They Can’t Swim

City Recruits Minority Lifeguards Even if They Can’t Swim

April 03, 2013 | 2 Comments

In a staggering case of affirmative action gone wild, officials in a major U.S. city are actually recruiting minorities to be lifeguards at public pools even if they’re not good swimmers. It’s all in the name of diversity.

You can’t make this stuff up. It’s a real-life story out of Phoenix, the capitol of Arizona and the nation’s sixth-largest city. It has more than 1.4 million residents and, among its official mottos is “value and respect” of diversity. This means “more than gender and race,” according to the city’s official website. It also encompasses “uniqueness and individuality” and embracing differences. “We put this belief into action to provide effective services to our diverse community.”

Evidently officials are willing to compromise those “effective services” at 29 public swimming pools spread throughout the city. To diversify the lifeguard force, Phoenix will spend thousands of dollars to recruit minorities even if they’re not strong swimmers, according to an official quoted in a news report. Blacks, Latinos and Asians who may not necessarily qualify can still get hired, says the city official who adds that “we will work with you in your swimming abilities.”

There’s a good reason the city is hiring lifeguards that can’t swim. Public pools are largely used by Latino and African-American kids, but most of the lifeguards are white and this creates a huge problem. “The kids in the pool are all either Hispanic or black or whatever, and every lifeguard is white and we don’t like that,” says a Phoenix official quoted in the story.

She added that “the kids don’t relate; there’s language issues.”

How did it ever come to this? Competitive swimming is a sport dominated by whites. In fact, studies have found that blacks and Hispanics have lower swimming proficiency compared to whites. In Phoenix public pool lifeguards have traditionally come from “more affluent parts of town” where schools have swim teams. That means virtually no minorities, so the city launched this special program to recruit some.

Though this is a local effort in one city, it’s also part of a national trend to boost the minority workforce at whatever cost. Under President Obama we have seen a lot of this at the federal level through a variety of specially-designed government programs that give ethnic minorities special treatment at all federal agencies as well as medical and agricultural fields, among others.

Earlier this year the administration made history by hiring the government’s first “Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity” to mastermind a multi-million-dollar effort that boosts the number of minorities in biomedical research and slashes discrimination in the federal grant process. The effort was initially launched last year after a government-sanctioned study uncovered a “disturbing and disheartening” lack of racial diversity in the field.

Before that the administration created a new office help build a “diverse and inclusive workforce” at all federal agencies and Obama appointed a “Diversity Czar” at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to help advance the goal of greater inclusion and diversity in government programs. Who could forget the race and gender employment quotas required at private financial institutions under Obama’s financial reform measure (known as the Dodd-Frank bill) to overhaul Wall Street? It’s all in the name of diversity.

Judicial Watch

Unless they are illegal, they should be able to speak English. African American kids speak English. Is this government perpetrated racism?

Welcome to Obamaland! This stuff reminds me of the story called Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonegut!

Socialism putting race and gender, and racism against white Americans, before the safety of human lives.

W

So, if someone drowns because of one of these minority lifeguards, the minorities won't be upset that one of their own drowned because of this asinine policy. Uh huh.

I work for a Waterpark in Utah, and there's just one tiny problem with this Article. All Lifeguards must be Certified by a Lifeguard Certification Instructor from and independent Lifeguard Certification Company, which happens to be Starfish Aquatic Institute (SFI), in order to be eligible to be hired as Lifeguard by the City of Phoenix. It doesn't matter what background you have, if you can't pass the Lifeguard Certification Course, you will not be hired as a Lifeguard. Period! If you read the NPR Article, it's clear that this is about Water Safety, Business, Community Outreach, and Work Force Diversification, nothing more, nothing less. Tax payers are also not footing the bill to give these kids a fair chance and teaching them a life long skill that could save someone's life. Lifeguarding is all about Safety, and not being able to speak the same language to give safety instructions can be dangerous. This is about Business and Community Outreach, not Affirmative Action gone wrong.

Originally Posted by linearinduction

I work for a Waterpark in Utah, and there's just one tiny problem with this Article. All Lifeguards must be Certified by a Lifeguard Certification Instructor from and independent Lifeguard Certification Company, which happens to be Starfish Aquatic Institute (SFI), in order to be eligible to be hired as Lifeguard by the City of Phoenix. It doesn't matter what background you have, if you can't pass the Lifeguard Certification Course, you will not be hired as a Lifeguard. Period!

So the next question is--who is going to pay for these minority lifeguards to be certified then if not taxpayers? So how will the city "help" them get certified? I know people who have worked as lifeguards and they paid for this certification themselves.

Also, how is this about "Business"? This is a tax paid for situation and efficient use of taxpayer dollars should be the issue. Here's what it's really about though--"Though this is a local effort in one city, it’s also part of a national trend to boost the minority workforce at whatever cost." I don't think we can afford this right now as a nation. You must admit that it doesn't sound like "water safety" is a goal here.

In Phoenix, A New Quest For Diverse Public Pool Lifeguards

by Jude Joffe-Block
March 28, 2013 9:56 AM

After noticing that most of the lifeguards at the public pools used by Latino and African-American kids were white, the Phoenix aquatics department decided to try to recruit minorities.

More than 90 percent of the students at Alhambra High are black, Latino or Asian. On a recruiting effort there over the winter, the city's Melissa Boyle tells students she's not looking for strong swimmers. Like many under-resourced schools, Alhambra doesn't have a swim team.

"We will work with you in your swimming abilities," Boyle says.

Boyle's colleague Kelly Martinez takes on the delicate task of explaining the scenario the city is trying to correct.
"The kids in the pool are all either Hispanic or black or whatever, and every lifeguard is white," she says, "and we don't like that. The kids don't relate; there's language issues."

Martinez turns to a Latina student next to her. "Do you speak Spanish?" she asks. "We need more lifeguards who can speak Spanish."

Competitive swimming still has a reputation as a white sport. And a national study released in 2010 found African-Americans and Latinos reported much lower swimming proficiency compared to whites.

"It's that catch-22," says Becky Hulett, who oversees Phoenix's public pools. "If the kids don't learn how to swim, as adults they are not going to swim, [and] they aren't going to take their own kids to swim."

So two years ago, Hulett began rethinking lifeguard recruitment. Traditionally, Phoenix's 500 lifeguards came from more affluent parts of town, most of which are farther from the public pools.

"It really populated from schools that had swim teams, and so that was our feeder into our lifeguarding programs," she says.

To help diversify its lifeguard ranks, the city raised about $15,000 over the past two years in scholarships to offset the cost of lifeguard-certification courses. Recruits who pass a swim test at the end can apply to be city lifeguards.

As the teens swim laps at Alhambra, it's clear many haven't had much formal training. But the coaches of the course aren't fazed and are prepared to put in the time to teach.

"Honestly, I have a little bit a fear of the water, and I wanted to overcome that fear," says high school junior Jesus Jimenez. He didn't grow up going to pools with his family but likes the idea of lifeguarding.

"It is nice to have the satisfaction of knowing that if somebody is in trouble you can save them at any time," he says.
If he is selected to be a lifeguard, other pool staff will work with him on his swimming skills all summer.


http://www.npr.org/2013/03/28/175571...ool-lifeguards