Dear Flourtown Country Club Management,
I am a pool member and a (white) Black Lives Matter
activist. I want to report an upsetting interaction with the woman who seems to
manage the pool. She is a white woman of medium build, fit, with short
sandy-blond hair. Today when I was entering the pool area I was upset to see
this person standing proudly in front of a “blue lives matter” flag. I hoped
there was a misunderstanding, I know that not everyone knows this flag is often
used as fascist/white supremacist iconography.
Her response to my alarm made it clear that she did,
in fact, hang the flag for violent, racist reasons. When I told her that the
flag might make Black members and guests feel unsafe, she told me to “Get lost.”
When I told her that police had aimed their cars at my friends during the
Uprising, she said “Well, were they in the road?” This implies that protesters
deserve to be killed or injured simply for crossing the street. When I asserted
that everyone who stands for white supremacy is a bad person, she then said “Go
change your skin color, then!” But I don’t need to be Black to be against murderous police, to be against the white supremacy this woman clearly espouses.
I am horrified by both the display of white
supremacist iconography and the rude, aggressive way I was treated. I think
that this woman needs to be fired and that the pool staff needs a serious
structural overhaul to subvert the current near-segregation of the membership
and staff. Black members and anti-racist members should be welcomed, not implicitly
threatened.
As you know, both country clubs and pools have a violent
white supremacist history in America. It’s within your power to change that, to
work towards inclusion and healing. Firing this racist staff member would be a
great start.
Best,
Sharon Wiedmann
Pool Member
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