Looking through the posts on this thread, many Freepers like to suggest that blacks have a different body shape than whites. That is ridiculous. Many hispanics also do not know how to swim. You know what the diffrence is? It’s their parents! Their parents don’t care enough to make sure that their kids are able to swim. Even if you live in the inner city and think you will never be near the water, your kids still need to know how to swim. If you as a parent can’t insure that your kids are able to swim, it’s just another form of neglect.
You are exactly right. Black parents can’t swim and it isn’t a priority that their children swim.
I’ve taught swimming to both races and a fear of the water is what keeps a child from learning to swim, not body fat. You don’t wait until they start to school to expose them to water either. My own children were swimming at three. They “bobbed” around in our arms every summer until they could keep their heads above the water for themselves. They had access to float toys too.
Experience in the water helps the child to excel. Black children are no different from other children when it comes to water.
I agree with you re: it being learned rather than due to body shape, but all the races have slightly different average body shapes.