can black men swim and if not why not?

Question

I saw aprogramme on tele and a participant ablack man said that black men can not swim. why not

Answer 1

Of course they can....... what an ignorant question

Answer 2

Yes, if they LEARNED. One of my earliest instructors when I was a child was a Black gentleman who was not allowed to compete in the AAU when he lived in the South. The gentleman was like a fish and he was a superb diver, even in his late 50s (about 50+ years ago).

It's very simple, how many hockey teams have Black hockey players? Or, how many Winter Olympic participants are Black? It has more to do with social factors than genetic factors. Coaches for swimming, Winter Olympic sports are usually found in "better" neighborhoods where Blacks are discouraged from entering. France had a tremendous young lady competing on ice skates (now making a heap of money after having gone professional, she was the one doing a somersault on ice skates a number of years back).

Do you know that parents normally pay upward of $25,000 (US) a year just to keep a pre-teen girl in AMATEUR Gymnastics?

You'd be surprised what goes on in sports even in this day and age!

That comment you heard on the "tele" is just an indication of how deep rooted the ignorance is! To answer your question, YES, Blacks and any other ethnic group CAN swim... if they learn and receive the same training as others.

Answer 3

stereotypes again.. how interesting.... black people are not the only people you do not see swimming in the Olympics.. you do not seem many Indian or Pakistani swimmers either...but it's always the Black person whose capabilites are questioned...
I am a Black woman and can swim perfectly well. as for Black people not swimming due to finances that is ridiculous. Swimming is not exactly an expensive sport. Here is the UK you pay about £2 to use a swimming pool big WOW!
You probably don't see Black people swimming as it's a pretty boring sport to be honest and also the hygeine factor as it is pretty common knowledge that most swimming pools are ceespits with people always p****ing in them etc!!

Answer 4

On September 21, 1988 A black man from Suriname by the name oy Anthony Nesty (not too sure about the Anthony part)won the GOLD MEDAL over 100 meters in the SEOUL OLYMPICS. (beating the favorite Matt Bionte of the USA who was not black.)

Despite what Wesley Snipes said in the movie "White man cant jump", I have seen a few white men jump pretty well

Answer 5

David... you must stop watching those after midnight programmes on TV. It is pure ignorance and it perpetuate the myth about black people of course they can swim, but as there are not many swimming pools in the middle of Africa, swimming is not a good option, similarly, Chinese people are good at table tennis, not because they have short arms, because of the lack of space in urban area, and like in Africa the people are mould by their culture and primarily their environment, start reading David you need to.

Answer 6

I'm going to assume what you really mean is why don't you see any really great black swimmers.
As in regards to the Olympics for instance.
It's of course for the reason you don't tend to see great white sprinters running in the 100m final.
Basically white physiology is better suited to the physical muscle work required for swimming. In the same way black physiology is better suited to sprinting.
The reason why? Well i guess god thought it would be a boring old world if we were all the same!

Answer 7

Only a small percentage of black people from Africa can swim, take for instance how many black swimmers do you see in the Olympic Games (not many) this is due to the lack of swimming pools where it would be safe to swim as apposed to swimming in river or lakes due to the dangerous animals for example crocks, hippo's etc

Answer 8

Yes they can swim, however people of African origins bones are more dense than their european counterparts which makes it slightly harder for them to float and harder work for them to swim.

This is not a problem for swimming in general, but in competative sporting it may mean that a european would have an advantage over an african - hence why there is rarely an olympic black swimmer.

Answer 9

So you telling me that none of the black men in the caribbean (or wherever)swim? In that beautiful sea? I think not! Maybe the men in his family can't swim. Maybe his parents couldn't swim and so didn't teach him. My mother couldn't swim and so didn't teach me, I had to learn at school. I think he's just being narrow minded. Maybe his ego won't allow him to learn now in case he looks stupid! You're never too old to learn, everyone should be able to swim. You're life depends on it.

Answer 10

If your a black Man then you can swim
If your a black woman you can swim if your blue with pink spots you can still swim. its just harder for some people there it is other all it takes is pratice,
Its true that its harder for a black man or woman to swim because there boned have more dense with makes it harder to float but that does not mean they cant.

Answer 11

Could it be that the particular black man you were watching on the program could not swim?