The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Dul-Sayin' - Racism and Public Swimming Pools

Episode Date: August 11, 2021

Dulcé Sloan examines the history of America's once-popular public swimming pools and explains how racism led to their sudden decline in the 1950s. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look, starting September 17th, wherever you get your podcasts. 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 beat full of them. But guess what came along and took them all away? That's right, racism. 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 and 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 Cola! And Bup-Bur-Bah-Bam! 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 these? Mm-hmm. So lots of communities ban 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! Someone called a hospital. I think I got the heat stroke. But all that changed with the civil rights movement. You know how activists desegregated diners with theins.

Well they also desegregated public pools with wait-ins and dive-ins. Although if you had just eaten it was a wait 20 men a minute. And all this activism really pissed off the racists. Protesters 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 ass suit. Although back then wastes had to be that high, his men kept all their racism in their gut. Unfortunately for the racist, 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's no soap of 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 suburbine in the summertime without hearing 10 kids looking for some fool names. Marco, it's been 700 years. Marco been dead. And it's this legacy that has shaped disparities around race and swimming today. It's been 700 years. Marco Binded! 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 to cool to cool to cool to cool to cool to cool to cool to cool to cool to cool to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to to to to to the the the the the their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their 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. The Daily Show with Trevor Noah Ears Edition.

Subscribe to The Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content and stream full episodes any time on Paramount Plus. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at.

That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, Second Look on Apple Podcasts starting September 17. This has been a Comedy Central Podcast.