With 'The Little Mermaid,' young Black kids are more interested in the water than ever. What to know about swimming racial disparities.
Ariel Tucker was named after Ariel from The Little Mermaid, but the 26-year-old has spent most of her life scared of water, avoiding recreational interactions ever since a near-drowning incident at a middle school pool party.
"That happened almost 15 years ago, and ever since then, I haven't quite conquered my fear of the water," says Tucker.
But when she learned that the role of her namesake would be portrayed by a Black woman in the new live-action version of The Little Mermaid, something shifted for Tucker, who is Black. "That was definitely one of the driving factors that made me want to get over the fear," she says, noting that Halle Bailey’s strong swimming skills were a major inspiration. "The training that she went through to be able to propel herself into this moment of history was really, like, breathtaking.”
Not only did Tucker look into swimming lessons for herself, but she’s signing her 2-year-old daughter up, as well.
And she’s not the only Black parent who has prioritized teaching water safety after seeing a positive representation of a Black woman swimming in The Little Mermaid. The film, piquing interest in the water and water-based activities, has heightened such urgency to teach water safety — especially important considering significant gaps in the swimming capabilities of Black children and their peers.
But just how big are these discrepancies?
A look at the numbers
Across the board, Black children are at a greater risk of fatal drownings and less likely to know how to swim than their white counterparts. A 2021 report by the YMCA revealed that 64% of Black children cannot swim, compared to 40% of white children.
Regarding fatal drownings, a new report by the Consumer Product Safety Commission states that Black children under the age of 15 made up 21% of all deadly drownings in 63% of cases where race was recorded.
"African-Americans are drowning at rates far above their representation population," says Nychelle Fleming, a communications specialist for the CPSC.
Why do these discrepancies exist?
As for the origin of these disparities, generational fears, racism and lack of access have all played a role.
The racial mistreatment of Black people in recreational spaces in the 1920s and '30s largely impacted the Black population's relationship with water.
In her book Race, Riots, and Roller Coasters: The Struggle Over Segregated Recreation in America, SUNY Buffalo history professor Victoria W. Wolcott explains the lengths white people who were against desegregation went to keep Black people out of pools, which included putting nails at the bottom of pools and pouring acid into the water while Black people were swimming.
Even after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination based on race, many public pools were shut down or privatized so that white people "could control who actually goes into the pool by having membership fees," Wolcott tells Yahoo Life.
This impeded generations of Black people from having access to pools or the chance to learn how to swim.
And it has what Wolcott describes a "generational effect," explaining that "if your parents can't swim, they [can't] teach you to swim," she says.
Intergenerational fears of water are often passed down, which increases the likelihood of generational water-avoidance being passed on, says Calvin Lawrence, the Aquatics Director for the YMCA in Jamaica, Queens, who, as a Black man, didn't take his first swim lesson until he was 30.
"Culturally, it’s not something that's been sort of common for most people," Lawrence tells Yahoo Life.
Experts say socioeconomic divides surrounding access to pools and swimming lessons also affect the rate at which certain demographics learn to swim.
"Historically, African Americans and Hispanics did not have as much access to pools," Mary O'Donoghue, the senior director of aquatics of the YMCA of Greater New York, tells Yahoo Life, adding that swim lessons are typically not a high priority for those in tight financial situations. "It's racial but it's also economical. People who have more disposable income will start their children younger, [at] between six months and a year. Whereas those who do not have that ability would tend to start them more in that 7-to-8-year-old age range."
The importance of aquatic safety this summer
Swim safety and water competency is an important cause year-round, but of course more of a priority during warmer months. This, coupled with the release of a water-centric film like The Little Mermaid, is likely to spike curiosity in swimming, say experts, adding that if approached correctly, this could be the start of developing a healthy association with swimming within a demographic that has been historically kept away from it.
"The movie’s coming out and it’s spiking interest and it's also getting into summer,” O'Donoghue says. “Both of those coming together is going to raise interest. It's great.”
And for many parents, the movie offers an opportunity to ensure their kids have a better relationship with the water than they did.
"It's like, 'Wow, I have a Black princess that looks like me and [this] really helps us relay the message that, you know, swimming isn't just like people drowning, and [Black people] can do it too," says Tucker. And while her daughter may be too young to grasp the importance of the on-screen representation of The Little Mermaid, Tucker still plans to enroll her in swim lessons soon, "before she can really develop a fear of anything."
"I wanted to give her that chance to do what I didn't have a chance to," says Tucker.
Getting children into the water as early as possible is best, but ages 7 to 8 and 11 to 13 are especially pivotal markers of independence for many children.
"Under the age of 7, they're always with their parents or a guardian. And then I think as you get into that kind of preteen age, where they're more influenced by their peers— those are kind of your pivotal ages where, if they have not done so already, they need to start taking swim lessons," says O'Donoghue.
But it's not just kids who should be learning the importance of aquatic safety, as children are likely to respond better to the water in environments where their guardians know how to swim, too, she explains.
"It increases the safety, and if you're doing something with your children, it builds that positive relationship," says O'Donoghue.
And while the film may strike a particular chord with children, experts say there is a lot that parents can take away from this moment as well.
"In terms of [The Little Mermaid], I think kids will respond positively to that. But I think it's also just as important, if not more important, that the parents respond positively. Because at the end of the day, the parent is the one who has to decide, 'OK, let's go get you some swim lessons,'" says Lawrence.
Tucker says she has already looked into "Mommy and Me" style swim classes, as she wants to make sure she doesn't "pass on my fear to my daughter" and hopes they can "experience that learning curve together."
She also wants to ensure that when her child is able to understand the "cultural relevance" of the movie, she will view the on-screen swimming as something she can partake in, in real life — an experience Tucker did not have.
"We're in a new age where our children have things that we didn't. I was named after The Little Mermaid, who was drawn to be characteristically white. Now, [they have] something different," says Tucker. "Hopefully [learning how to swim] is something I can do differently for my kids."
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