The latest study about minorities and drowning was disheartening. I started wondering what is the point of all the hard work Diversity in Aquatics is doing, or even the meager effort I’ve been exerting to get the word out about how important it is to learn to swim.

But then I found that Cullen Jones is doing more than just breaking swim records. He is on a road tour with Make a Splash, teaching children to swim all over the country. When all the studies point out that what black children need to get them swimming is good role models, Cullen Jones is the right person in the right place. He is definitely to be commended.

What can we do at the local level? I think the underlying message of the latest study is that parents can’t just send their kids to the pool. Yes, that’s what we’ve been doing for years, and to mixed results. What we pass on, even when we send our kids to the pool but don’t learn to swim ourselves is fear, and apathy. We don’t really think it’s important; we just want to get them out of our hair. No, we parents need to get in the water with our children, and we could go a long way to reversing that drowning rate if we would learn to swim alongside our children.

What do you think about that? Want to start an initiative?