When I grew up, swimming was something of a cultural event. Same gangs, same pool, every weekend. Also when I was a kid, blacks were prohibited from most pools, so they found other ‘cultural’ outlets. Like hoops.
Now they as a culture are in revolt against all the old stereotypes. I know blacks who won’t touch a watermelon. I used to work with a black guy who swore he wouldn’t pick the cotton out of an aspirin bottle (maybe a little tongue in cheek). So it would seem like they as a group still are boycotting swimming pools, to their detriment.
And it bears mention that SCPO Rob O’Neal (Ret), the Navy SEAL who put the first bullet (of what I guarantee you were many) in Osama bin Laden was from Butte Montana. And he grew up never learning to swim. When he enlisted in the Navy, HE COULDN”T SWIM. And, ironically, he signed up specifically so he could be SEAL (obviously misunderestimating at the time how improbable that goal was). But he learned well enough to get through BUD/S.
So there’s probably more White people than you might imagine who can’t swim.
If they had fallen from a cliff they might not have been in much shape to swim regardless.
I think one difficulty blacks have with swimming is on average ( not all) they tend not to have as much fat in their bodies so they aren’t as buoyant as the average white.