Pool Accused of Racism Will Ask Campers Back

By Marie Morris,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 12, 2009 10:35 PM CDT
Pool Accused of Racism Will Ask Campers Back
Kelbin Carolina demonstrates at the Valley Club in Huntingdon Valley, Pa., after allegations the club blocked a group of minority children from swimming at the pool, Thursday, July 9, 2009.   (AP Photo/Mark Stehle)

The suburban Philadelphia swim club at the center of a racism controversy will ask the day campers it disinvited to return, the local ABC affiliate reports. "We are very very sorry that this had to happen," the club president tells WPVI-TV. He had sparked the incident by saying the presence of the campers, who are mostly African American and Hispanic, changed the facility's "complexion" and "atmosphere."

"We applaud the club's decision," a lawyer who sued the club in federal court last week told the Inquirer; he said he won't go forward with the legal action. One man protesting outside the club said the move is encouraging but not enough: "A lot of change needs to happen. It needs to happen fast."
(More Philadelphia stories.)

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