Hat tip Judicial Watch and Larry Elder
This is a story I heard about this afternoon in the car while listening to Larry Elder's talk radio show in Los Angeles. The city of Phoenix is recruiting minority lifeguards-even if they can't swim- because it has determined that most of the swimmers in public pools are minority while all of the lifeguards are white.
And they don't like that.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2013/04/city-recruits-minority-lifeguards-even-if-they-cant-swim/
"She added that “the kids don’t relate; there’s language issues”
Well let me remove that issue:
English: "Help"
Spanish "Ayudo"
Black Vernacular English "Help"
Problem solved.
"Applicants who can demonstrate their proficiency in swimming will be considered without consideration as to race, etc....".
A caller, who was a former lifeguard from Arizona, called into Larry's show and related a story about working at a pool in which a lifeguard hired because of her minority status jumped into the deep end of the pool to rescue a drowning child. She herself began to drown, and as it turned out, others had to rescue both her and the child.
OMG!!! Please tell me that this is a bogus story. Hiring lifeguards that cannot swim and they have to be saved when they go into the deep water. If true, this has to be the biggest insanity of minority hiring. I believe that taking the most important part of the job out of the lifeguard requirements is insane, if not setting the city up for a major criminal negligence law suit.
ReplyDeleteI was a beach lifeguard for over 10 years and we had to compete for a place on the roster by swimming a mile in the ocean, in early Spring. We had to go through Navy SEAL like training (not as long or as hard) and qualify each year and repeat the swim, in early Spring.
Squid
Miggie,
ReplyDeleteIt is not a joke.
I don't know one American of African descent who would prefer to drown with a lifeguard their own color who can't swim, than to be rescued by a lifeguard who can swim who is "white." I suspect that everyone involved in drawing up this policy was someone who could be described as "white."
ReplyDeleteNot that there aren't Americans of African descent who are perfectly competent to be lifeguards. Whether any of them care to apply for jobs in Phoenix I have no idea.
Having slept on this question, there is another angle. Lifeguards not only have to dive in and save people, but exercise supervision and prevent unsafe behavior. It is not impossible that punks who don't want to listen are using "I ain't going to listen to no white man" as cover, in which case a 6' 6" black man telling them to get out of the water and go home until they can behave themselves might be just the ticket. Of course this function can be separated from the lifeguard. If there is serious trouble over enforcement, it might even be desirable to have both functions covered by two different individuals.
ReplyDeleteYou get what you pay for. One drowning because of this and the lawsuit will shut down all the city pools. Problem will then be solved.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant, Siarlys! Just because some punks don't like white folks, let's hire lifeguards who can't swim. Better yet, let's spend more of the tax payer's money to hire an extra person to act as translator or enforcer for the white lifeguard. A typical liberal solution.
ReplyDeleteBetter sleep on it another night.
What's your solution Gary? There are people who are great swimmers who make lousy enforcers. I'd favor bringing in a helicopter and plucking the perps up into the air and dropping them off in the nearest wilderness, but that costs money.
ReplyDelete