USA Swimming leadership has released a letter to the organization’s membership outlining USA Swimming’s path forward to deal with diversity in the sport of swimming and acknowledging the racist history of swimming. The letter is signed by USA Swimming President & CEO Tim Hinchey, USA Swimming Foundation Board Chair Dr. Cecil Gordon, and USA Swimming Board Chair Bob Vincent.
The letter comes in light of ongoing national protests that have emerged after an unarmed black man George Floyd died in the hands of Minneapolis police on May 25.
In his writing, Hinchey uses the phrase “Black Lives Matter,” which was absent from USA Swimming’s initial statements when protests and national conversation on the topic began. The phrase is the name of a national organization, with many local chapters around the US, that has emerged in a leadership role in combating racism in the US, especially as it relates to interactions between Black citizens and police. The phrase has also become a broader rallying cry to change the way that Black Americans are treated.
USA Swimming has received criticism on social media for not using the phrase in their original statement, especially from an account called “afroswimmers” that is run by Noelle F. Singleton. That post received support from several US National Team swimmers, including most visibly Olympic gold medalist Simone Manuel, who both commented her support for the original post and shared the post to her personal Instagram account.
That post also called on USA Swimming to make several improvements, including:
- Sponsoring and supporting the National Black History Invitational
- Creating a board to solely focus on increasing the amount of black coaches and staff within the organization
- Sharing images of more black swimmers beyond Manuel on their social media accoutns
- Approve and support the use of larger swim caps for swimmers
Hinchey’s path forward for USA Swimming includes educating more in the organization about these issues, improving outreach programs, and to continue to partner with, and form new partnerships with, several programs, including the National Black History Invitational.
This is in addition to other diversity programs already run by USA Swimming, including the Diversity Select Camp that invites 48 athletes from “underrepresented populations” to participate in a three-day camp program at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
In the organization’s 2019 member demographics report, USA Swimming reported 4,841 year-round athlete members who are African American. That accounts for about 1.4% of all USA Swimming year-round athletes. According to the 2010 United States Census, there were around 42 million non-Hispanic African Americans, which made up about 14% of the US population.
Note: 34% of athletes did not respond to the ethnicity question on USA Swimming registration form.
Another American aquatics organization, USA Diving, has announced new programs and new investments as well.
The full letter from USA Swimming Leadership is below
Dear USA Swimming members,
It is difficult to find the right words to express our grief, but we will try because it matters to our Black athletes, it matters to our Black members, and it matters to us. We hear you. We see you.
We have heard firsthand from our Black National Team athletes and our members within the Black community, and we are incredibly thankful to them for taking the time to participate in open dialogue and to join us in creating change. We are listening, and we want to help.
To our entire USA Swimming membership, partners, and volunteers, we ask that you stand unified with us as we work to uplift and to amplify voices of change. We all must make a difference.
We would be naïve to think that swimming is not a microcosm of our society. Due to a number of historical events, including the segregation of pools and limitation of Black swimmers, swimming, like society, fostered systemic racism. While swimming has come a long way, we acknowledge that our progress has been much too slow. There is still much work to be done and it will take continued awareness, advocacy, and hard work in all our communities.
We stand firmly against social injustice and condemn racism and discrimination of any kind. We reaffirm our commitment to foster inclusion and to join those who work toward meaningful change. We will continue to use our platforms to educate and to inform. We will support our Black staff members, our Black athletes, our Black coaches, our Black volunteers, and our Black family members. We will support the Black community because Black Lives Matter. These are important words, but it is our actions that count.
Outlined below are short term steps we will take to expand upon current efforts and develop an improved path forward:
- Further organizational education: acknowledging that these conversations may be uncomfortable, but change will only occur when these conversations are being held in the right way, not the most comfortable way.
- Enlisting facilitators to support our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) team in establishing broader outreach to our clubs and more localized engagement efforts.
- Commitment to openly educate and openly speak about DEI topics with membership, including athletes, coaches, volunteers, and partners, with more frequent distribution of informational resources across all USA Swimming channels.
- New and continued partnerships with organizations that support DEI efforts such as Diversity in Aquatics, RISE, the Black History Invitational and the National Black Heritage Championship swim meets and other NGB’s, to further integrate DEI into our sport’s culture.
We will continue our financial investment to support ongoing DEI programs such as the Community Swim Team Program, Learn-to-Swim program, Diversity Coach Mentorship and Diverse Athlete Support and look at other long-term initiatives to support and invest in. We commit to finding impactful ways to grow and increase our Black membership.
To access current resources, please visit: www.usaswimming.org/DEIResources.
If you have suggestions or want to get involved with our DEI efforts, contact us at [email protected]. If you would like to connect with one of USA Swimming’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team members, or want to share your thoughts and comments, please contact MJ Truex at [email protected].
We commit to be a part of the solution and to help make a difference.
Respectfully Yours,
Tim Hinchey III
USA Swimming President & CEO
Dr. Cecil Gordon
USA Swimming Foundation Board Chair
Bob Vincent
USA Swimming Board Chair
The BLM website states “We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure”. I am wondering if USA Swimming, as well as its prominent advocates on the national team, can comment on this statement, and tell us whether they agree with it.
Don’t be fooled by USA Swimming’s press release on this issue. They only put this insincere press release out to shove the sexual abuse coverup lawsuit news further down the newsfeed. History has shown that actions speak louder than words and the USA Swimming hierarchy cares as little about the “Black Lives Matter” issue as they do protecting their own athletes from child molesters. This is nothing but a media shell game to them…
Some of the talk going on right now is crazy. Despite all data showing that the more police officers there are in America, the safer a community is, places like Minneapolis have voted to disband its police force. This is absolute insanity and is guaranteed to lead to more murders, whether it’s white on black, black on white, white on white and black on black.
My brother is in law enforcement. Good officers (which are the majority) are getting slammed right now. He has mentioned that his city’s officers may go on strike. I think this would be a great idea nationwide for at least a month. Maybe after all hell has broken loose, people will come to appreciate them again.
Unfortunately, facts no longer matter on social media and message boards if they hurt people’s feelings or make them question their existing beliefs, however wrongheaded. It’s stunning and leading to awful public policy decisions that will cost us both in lives and jobs. Pure insanity.
Guerra – I would love for you to point to one time on these message boards where you have exhibited the willingness to respond to new information or question your existing beliefs.
All life’s matter!
he most likely was sitting while writing that and also when he might read your comment. so are you probably.
my comment is surely not helpful nor compassionate is it? yes im sitting. please understand how dumb of a comment that last sentence of yours was
RIP david dorn and Patrick Underwood. Thank you for your service.
I and all my friends ( some of them are black and they disagree too ) disagree. We fight racism by improving the conditions of whole bad neighborhoods, instead of abandoning them like we do. We should focus on education, culture and events together, not by removing ‘cops’ from the tv or other crazinesses. Do you know how many unarmed black people were killed in 2019 by the police ? 9. Facts may hurt somebody’s narrative but are not racist. Should this suggest that police is systemically racist ? Please. Instead of focusing on ‘police brutality’ pretending that a 8 years old black kid is risking his life while walking alone because police may shoot at him ( this simply… Read more »
1. You and all your friends disagree that black lives matter? Yikes.
2. Racism in policing extends far beyond murder. Black people are far more likely to be arrested for the same crime and pulled over for no reason.
3. Just because you aren’t paying attention to black activists talking about crime in their community doesn’t mean they aren’t.
4. All lives do matter, but that will continue to ring hollow until we affirm that black lives matter.
5. You have no idea what freedom of speech means do you? This website has no constitutional obligation to let you spew your hateful speech here, but for some reason they do.
Cancel culture on full display ACC.
What did I say that in any way, shape, or form is “cancel culture”?
You disagreed and you went straight to “hateful” when nothing hateful was said. You implied the comment should be removed due to “hateful” language (cancelled).
That is true intolerance, an ad hominem attack.
“All lives matter” is only ever said to dismiss and attempt to silence those who say “Black Lives Matter.” Its disingenuous and I won’t take that back.
You are entitled to your opinion. Eddie did not engage in hateful speech. He just disagreed with you (and popular opinion in general).
Don’t label something hateful that is not. Encourage honest dialogue instead. Call out true racism and true hate when it actually exists.
What about the girl on my team that is Native American (Crow I believe)? Does her life not measure up as important to Blacks? It seems to me (if my history teacher was worth a damn) that they have had to endure a lot as well on the reservations. Then what about the Mexican family that joined our team this last Fall? I wonder what these other groups of minorities must be thinking during time. All lives do matter. We can not go back in time, but need to be more empathetic about our future.
When someone says “Save the turtles,” it highlights the negative conditions impacting turtles. It doesn’t mean not to save the whales, dolphins, or salmon; nor does it exclude other causes.
If someone truly believes that all lives matter, then Black lives should matter too and they shouldn’t have any reservation saying so based on the disparities in policing, judicial sentencing, the social impact of Covid-19, and even the historic lack of access to the sport of swimming.
I’m happy you’re noting the lives of Native Americans and Mexican Americans. So what have you done regarding the environmental discrimination (Dakota Access Pipeline and lack of running water on many reservations) and other socioeconomic plight affecting these groups that you now use… Read more »
All lives matter, including the 18 killed in 24 hrs in Chicago and the millions of unborn black children aborted by their mothers. They matter too!!
The mantra black lives matter is true, but is superseded by all lives matter
So what I said is somehow hateful speech to you ? I don’t think you know what racism is. I don’t disagree that black lives matter, I disagree on the way the movement called BLM wants to fight racism, very big difference. Martin Luther King, a holy man, said that it’s with education and fight against ignorance that we fight racism all together. I agree. I agree that this is the way we can improve the situation, instead of saying that every cop is a bad one, that every white person should feel guilty for something that has never done and so on…. If you still think that what I say and stand for is hateful speech then just grow… Read more »
@eddie Morra You were adamant in all caps that we are all equal and all lives matter. It is great you claim to feel that way but if you think society treats people of color equally and provides true equal opportunity then you need to study history and some current events before preaching. Our country doesn’t act like Black Lives Matter the same as white lives, so until it does we need to continue to shout it and act on it until the playing field is truly level and justice applies to all. I recognize my white male privilege as historical fact that does advantage me in 9 situations out of 10. No one has asked me to feel guilty… Read more »
Eddie Morra, there were more than 9 unarmed black people killed by police in 2019. The statistic you’re referencing only accounts for on-duty officers with guns. It doesn’t account for off-duty police officers or other uses of force such as tasers and physical restraint.
BOSSNOVA, here’s some data from the FBI on the topic that includes all the victims. The data seems to suggest that 80-90% of the victims were killed by their own race. So there’s multiple ways to look at this, but the data doesn’t seem to support the claims.
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.-2016/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-3.xls
The cop looking guy as the hero image….not the best stock image selection you guys have made.
He’s the president of USA swimming? I can’t really think of anyone better….
Axle Foley
Mike Lowery from Bad Boys?
It’s not a stock image, it’s Tim Hinchey.
The statement says, “…it is our actions that count,” but their new path includes very little action beyond what initiatives they already have in place. An apology is also noticeably absent.
I’m willing to bet that this statement is for publicity. Say something so youre not labeled a racist for not saying anything. No apology because they dont see theres anything to apologize for. Same thing with their new actions.
I think our country does have some serious thinking to do. However, let’s not have knee jerk reactions with lasting implications that will put us in an even worse spot down the road.
Is USA Swimming in an attempt to have more diverse staff in Colorado Springs going to rid themselves of white men (that may have done a great job) to appear from the outside that they are being diverse? A lot of window dressing going on right now with companies, etc. I’m just wondering if we are losing some good folks.
Not trying to get people upset, but would be interested in thoughts for or against.
There was a time in this country where people of… Read more »
It’s a false idea that white men will be replaced by minority members and women. That’s frankly a political message that has been used for decades in one form or another to rile people up. Your post seems to echo this fear, and perhaps a lack of sensitivity and awareness of the real world. There’s absolutely nothing to the idea that white men’s careers are endangered anywhere, and no reason to open this false narrative in USAS.
First: This has not been seen in other executive and leadership staff in other organizations. Famously, the NFL has the”Rooney Rule” that places an emphasis on hiring black head coaches and executives by requiring that one finalist must be a black man.… Read more »