https://ift.tt/suznvN3 Aiden Reed had reason to be a little nervous as he dipped into a swimming pool in Washington.
“I almost drowned,” the young African American recalled of an incident at another pool when a lifeguard had to rescue him.
Since then, Aiden has found the courage to face his fears and go back in the pool for lessons with Swim Up, a nonprofit group that offers free classes.
Out of nine new swimmers on a recent October afternoon, eight were African American, a vulnerable group for drowning. In the United States, the drowning rate for Black children ages 5-9 is 2.6 times higher than that of white children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
For Black children ages 10-14, drowning rates are 3.6 times higher, the CDC says.
Some 64% of Black children know little or nothing about swimming, compared to 40% of white children, according to USA Swimming, a national federation.
A tragedy in August 2010 brutally illustrated the situation. During a barbecue with friends in Shreveport, Louisiana, DeKendrix Warner, a Black teenager, waded into shallow water in the Red River.
He didn’t know how to swim. Neither did the six friends and cousins who went in to try to save him. Warner slipped and plunged into a pool of much deeper water. A passerby jumped in and saved him, but the six others had also followed him into the deep water. Family members on shore, who couldn’t swim, watched helplessly.