Berlin Scraps Black Children's Pool Day After Racist Backlash, as Drowning Risk Runs 3.5 Times Higher
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 24
Berlin Scraps Black Children's Pool Day After Racist Backlash, as Drowning Risk Runs 3.5 Times Higher
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 24
Summary
A Berlin outdoor pool event reserved for Black children and their families was canceled after rightwing and conservative criticism triggered racist emails and threats against organizers, Volksbühne theatre said.
Volksbühne had arranged the private afternoon to lower barriers that often keep Black children away from pools, saying other groups had received exclusive access without similar controversy.
The backlash drew claims of "apartheid" from AfD co-leader Alice Weidel and criticism from a local Christian Democrat politician, turning a local inclusion effort into a wider argument over safe spaces.
The dispute fits a longer pattern of pools becoming racial flashpoints across Europe and North America, from access restrictions in Germany, Switzerland, Romania and the Netherlands to the US history of segregated public pools.
That legacy still shapes safety outcomes: Black and African American children in the US drown at 3 times the rate of white children, while in England minority-ethnic children are 3.5 times more likely to drown.