Even after training, blacks apparently tend to have more difficulty swimming than whites do. The theory I’ve heard is that blacks as a group carry a greater amount of their bodyweight above the waistline compared to whites, and this makes swimming harder for them because their center of balance is in the “wrong” place for efficient swimming. I think also blacks tend to have less bodyfat overall, particularly among males, and this in turn reduces buoyancy. Both physiological differences contribute to blacks’ advantage in running, but it’s pretty hard to drown on land.
I heard a military trainer say once that a higher proportion of black recruits, when sent into deep water, sank. That would indicate a physiological difference, perhaps body fat or muscle density.
The last time I brought this up I was deluged with protests which went along the lines of “You don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m black, and I swim and so do my sisters.”
So I’m just reporting what some guy said. Please don’t hurt me.
i don’t know where you are but many blacks and whites around me are overweight to obese. they only seem to be thinner the younger they are.
I taught kids and some adults to swim from high school through college. Black kids can swim as well as anybody else, but there are some barriers to overcome.
First, getting them to submerge their faces and get their hair wet, definite bias against that. Once you get past that bias and teach them how to keep water out of their noses by gently exhaling and blowing bubbles, it gets better.
Secondly, there is a difference in buoyancy between slender, muscular kids and kids who have a layer of body fat. Being able to float means it’s much less scary when getting into deep water for the first time. Sinking below the surface creates panic. However, everyone floats, reaches a state of equilibrium. Some who are slender and more muscular will sink below the surface of the water before this is reached, sometimes a foot or two beneath. The survival float, or with kids, the “jellyfish float,” enables them to relax and realize that they’re not sinking to the bottom forever, that there is a way to move and to act in the water that works without having to try too hard, no reason to panic.
After that, some can be taught to be merely proficient swimmers, some good, a few great. White kids take to it more easily as a group but there are outliers who panic, sink, don’t want to get their faces and hair wet, etc. Black kids take to it less easily but there are outliers as well.
We once owned a timeshare on a mostly black island. 80% of the divemasters were black. I never met a local who couldn’t swim. While there was a lot of racially-mixed folks, the majority were descendants of the same slaves that were sold on to the USA. We saw fewer obese people than in the USA.
The older local women didn’t swim because they were afraid of the effects of sea water on their skin. The younger ones had no problems.
We saw very young kids playing in the ocean every day, jumping off docks and swimming around and back to do it all over again.
These kids were swimming in salt water and I agree that is much easier.
BTW, when ever we vacationed, there were always women from Lon Guyland who not only refused to get their hair wet, but who also refused to walk on sand because they hated the feeling of sand on their feet. They were seen in the pool, in expensive *slimming suits*, cautiously wading around to cool off and never submerging their heads. They did end up with very deep tans and spent their poolside time spraying themselves with water. As for their hair, they complained about the salt breeze ruining their styles even on land. Many then went home and had their beauticians give them streaks and used products that imitated *beach hair*.
People are weird.
Come time for "drownproofing" training, the instructor called for a couple of black recruits to jump in the pool first - and then promptly bellowed: "See? N*****s are 'sinkers'"....he then gave a few sentences about the ethnic differences regarding buoyancy.
It was proof, however unsensitively as it was pointed out....
I can vouch for the fact that if you don’t have enough fat, you might have trouble staying afloat. When I took some lifesaving classes when I was about 11 or 12, one of the tasks we had to perform was staying afloat on your back. At that age I was so skinny I had to run around in the shower to get wet as the saying goes. I simply could not float. I sank like a stone whenever I tried to float. Now, (sadly) fifty years later, I wouldn’t have any problems floating.
Less tidal air... they have trouble floating.
Hell, my black friends joke about how black people can’t swim, with the same argument between culture and physiology. I’ve trained near a few black triathletes and they tend to just muscle through the water rather than float and glide.