왜 흑인은 수영을 못할까 ?

왜 사람들은 흑인이 수영을 못한다고 생각할까? 

올림픽 수영경기를 보면 메달리스트는 고사하고 흑인선수 자체를 보기가 하늘의 별따기다.  이러한 차이는 어디서 오는걸까 ? 흑인들이 주를 이루는 농구선수들과 육상선수들, 기타 많은 종목에서 혀를 내두를 정도로 활약하는 그들이 유독 수영에서 약한 모습을 보인다. 많은 사람들은 왜 그들이 수영을 못하고 이러한 이유는 어디에서 오는지 궁금해 하기도 한다. 

수영을 못하는 이유는?

유전적 요인인가 환경적 요인인가

실제로 인종에 따라 뼈와 근육의 밀도가 다르다. 부력이 높을수록 물에 잘 뜨기 때문에 근육량이 많은 흑인이 불리하다고 말하는 사람들이 많다. 하지만 인종간 평균을 낸 근육량과 밀도의 차이가 흑인이 수영을 못하는 이유라는게 타당한가 ? 같은 인종이더라도 타고난 골격이 다르고 근육량이 다르다. 흑인들이 '대체로' 그렇다는 것과 '완전히' 그렇다는 것은 차이가 있다. 수영이라는 종목이 키에 영향을 많이 받기 때문에 아시아인들에게 많이 불리하다고 하지만 중국과 일본의 많은 수영선수들이 좋은 모습을 보여주고 있다. 유색인종인 대한민국에서도 각양각색의 스포츠 선수들이 있고 다른 체형을 가지고 있는 점을 생각한다면 다른 점을 주목할 필요가 있다. 

기회의 평등이 짓밟은 흑인들

흑인이 수영을 못하는 이유는 수영을 접할 기회가 적기 때문이다. USA Swimming과 the University of Memphis에 의하면 인종별 수영할 능력이 낮거나 못하는 아이들의 비율은 흑인아이들 68.9%, 히스패닉계 아이들 57.9%, 백인 아이들 41.8% 라고 한다. 실제로 USA SWIMMING 에 의하면 부모가 수영을 못할 경우 아이들이 수영을 배울 기회는 13%에 불과하다고 한다. 과거 흑인차별정책에 의하여 백인과 흑인은 한 수영장에서 같이 수영을 하지 못했다. 심지어 인종차별이 폐지된 이후에도 같이 수영을 할 수 없었다. 대부분의 지역에서 공공수영장을 닫고 컨트리 클럽이나 개인 수영장에서 수영을 했다. 돈이 없는 흑인들은 수영장에 갈 수 없었고 흑인들은 호수나 연못등에서 그저 정식교육을 받지 못했던 친구나 가족들로부터 수영을 배웠다. 더 커다란 양극화를 만들었을 뿐이다. 이런 환경에서 자란 흑인들의 자녀들이 수영을 못하는 대물림이 될 가능성이 크다. 약세를 보이던 수영계에서 올림픽 개인 수영 100m에서 금메다를 딴 최초의 흑인 여성 시몬 매뉴얼은 흑인에 대한 편견을 뒤집을 것이다.

밑에 기사는 최초로 금메달을 딴 여성흑인수영선수 시몬매뉴얼의 기사의 내용이다. 따로 흑인이 수영에 접하지 못하는 요인들을 빨간색으로 표시해봤다.

I’m black and I can’t swim. Simone Manuel showed America why it must change.

To understand the significance of Manuel’s gold, you have to know the current against which she swam.

 

By Jerry Brewer, Columnist for The Washington Post

I can’t swim. My grandmother jokes that she never wants to be in more water than she can drink, and I pretty much agree. So does my mother. And my aunts. And my uncles. And most of my cousins.

We’re not an unusual African-American family. The statistics are startling: 68.9 percent of African-American children had “low or no swim ability,” according to a 2010 study commissioned by USA Swimming and conducted by the University of Memphis. For Hispanic children, the number was 57.9 percent. For Caucasians, it was 41.8 percent.

And despite all the “Black people can’t swim” jokes that comedians use to bring down the house, these are dangerous facts. Black children ages five to 19 die from drowning at a rate 5 1/2 times higher than white children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

So to understand the significance of what Simone Manuel did Thursday night, when she became the first African-American woman to win an individual swimming medal in an Olympics, you have to know the current against which she swam. She hasn’t always liked being singled out as a “black swimmer” because she thinks it has a diminishing connotation, but she realizes how powerful a symbol she now is.

Manuel didn’t just win any medal. She didn’t sneak in at the end and get a bronze. No, she recovered from a poor start in the 100-meter freestyle, blazed at the turn and won gold. She finished in a dead heat with Canada’s Penny Oleksiak to share first place in an Olympic record time for 52.70 seconds.

“It means a lot to me,” Manuel said afterward.

“This medal is not just for me. It’s for some of the African Americans who have come before me and been an inspiration. I hope I can be an inspiration to others, so this medal is for those who come behind me and get into the sport and hopefully find the love and drive to get to this point.”

 

 

Simone Manuel celebrates her gold medal win

Manuel provided a thrilling moment for all Americans, especially those who remember old Jim Crow laws that once kept blacks out of white pools in Southern states. When racial integration finally became a mandate, many areas responded by closing public pools so they didn’t have to mix, creating a bigger social divide that transcended race because if you didn’t have the money to go to a country club or private pool, you either didn’t learn to swim, or you tried to learn from an untrained friend or family member in rivers, lakes and even ponds.

That’s the history, and it undoubtedly contributed to where we are today, to this troubling acceptance that swimming — an important life skill — isn’t for everybody. My wife, who is half Caucasian and half Japanese, tries to make me feel guilty about not swimming. She scolds me about being too stubborn. I tell her, “I’m 38. I ain’t getting in no water. I’ll wade and watch you.”

Then she’ll wonder how we can motivate our two young boys to learn to swim with only one parent as a role model. That really bothers me. The aforementioned USA Swimming report also found that, if a parent can’t swim, there’s just a 13 percent chance that the child will learn. It’s a great concern of the United States swimming program, both for safety reasons and a desire to bring more diversity to the pool.

Manuel represents hope. Of all the jokes that comedians make about blacks and swimming, the most popular and depressing involve women. They’re often about not ruining hair. The stereotype is that black women would rather be cute than swim.

To get to the top, Manuel has had to fight against the notion. She knew she had an opportunity to affect change, to promote a different story, to inspire a new generation that wouldn’t have to believe in long-held stereotypes. It’s a kind of pressure that she had to learn to compartmentalize.

 

Manuel cries during the medal ceremony for the women’s 100-meter freestyle. (Photo: Michael Sohn/AP)

“Yeah, that is something I have definitely struggled with a lot,” said Manuel, a 20-year-old from Sugar Land, Texas, who attends college at Stanford. “I tried to take the weight of the black community off my shoulders as it is something I carry with me being in this position. But I do hope it kind of goes away. I am super glad with the fact that I can be an inspiration to others and hopefully diversify the sport, but at the same time, I would like there to be a day when there are more of us, and it’s not ‘Simone, the black swimmer.’

“The title ‘black swimmer’ makes it seem like I am not supposed to be able to win a gold medal, I am not supposed to be able to break the Olympic record, and that is not true as I work as hard as anybody else, and I love the sport, and I want to win, just like everybody else.”

Manuel has taken any “happy to be here” novelty out of the quest. She is a gold-verified badass. Remember her as that first. And then we can call her an inspiration.

Sixteen years ago, Anthony Ervin, whose father is black and Native American and whose mother is Jewish, became the first swimmer with African-American blood to win an individual Olympic gold. He didn’t know how to respond to questions about the historic accomplishment because he’s light-skinned and chooses to celebrate his multiracial heritage.

Since then, Maritza Correia broke the barrier for women of African descent to swim on Team USA in 2004, and she won a silver medal on the 4x100-meter freestyle relay team. Then Cullen Jenkins excelled in the previous two Olympics, and Lia Neal won a silver earlier in these Games on the 4x100 freestyle relay.

The USA Swimming website has an entire page celebrating black history in its sport. That’s how much it matters to the organization. Perhaps there will come a day when black swimmers are so accomplished in the program that their triumphs are indistinguishable from the rest of the group. But for now, we’re still in a pioneering stage.

When Manuel cried Thursday night, the wet stuff certainly became a shared experience, with African American communities back home, with any household that appreciates Team USA and history and a worthy trailblazer.

Black people can swim, some of them extraordinarily fast. Black women aren’t too consumed with maintaining expensive hairdos to bother. Dire statistics don’t have to be discouraging.

Manuel reminded us of this. In 52.70 cathartic seconds, she reminded us.

This story originally appeared in The Washington Post. Visit wapo.st/olympics for live coverage of the Rio Games.

For more by Jerry Brewer, visit washingtonpost.com/brewer.

출처 : https://medium.com/thewashingtonpost/im-black-and-i-can-t-swim-simone-manuel-showed-america-why-it-must-change-cebc3731708