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05/02/2008: "New study: 58 percent of black children can't swim"

Nearly 60 percent of African-American children can't swim, almost twice the figure for white children, according to a first-of-its-kind survey which USA Swimming hopes will strengthen its efforts to lower minority drowning rates and draw more blacks into the sport.

Black children drown at a rate almost three times the overall rate. And less than 2 percent of USA Swimming's nearly 252,000 members who swim competitively year-round are black.

The study found that 31 percent of the white respondents could not swim safely, compared to 58 percent of the blacks. The non-swimming rate for Hispanic children was almost as high, 56 percent, although more than twice as many Hispanics as blacks are now USA Swimming members.

[ There are physical racial differences that make this particular sport very difficult for Blacks, although this article claims the science proving this is discredited. ]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080501/ap_on_re_us/swimming_blacks