BLACKS CAN'T SWIM: TAKING THE PLUNGE WITH ED ACCURA

Co-founder of the Black Swim Association and the man behind the feature film "Blacks Can't Swim", Ed Accura, was part of the 95% of Black adults that couldn’t swim, but that all changed a few years ago.

Ed took the plunge and decided to embark on the journey of learning to swim. He documented his experience whilst being part of the group setting up The Black Swimming Association (BSA) - a UK charity set up to highlight the importance of swimming and water safety in the African, Caribbean, and Asian communities.

Ed, what common misconceptions have you seen around Black people and swimming?

“Many people seem to believe that Black people have heavy bones and we cannot float. We’ve even heard Instructors tell people struggling to swim that the reason they can’t get the hang of it could be because of their ethnicity. We are aiming to disprove this, and are doing scientific research next year to say whether there’s any truth behind it.

“Alongside this, a lot of people believe that swimming will damage their hair, and the main reason that 80% of Black children don’t swim, is because they copy their parents’ belief that learning to swim is not something that they need to prioritise in life.”

So we know that 95% of Black adults cannot swim - how do we change the statistic?

“We need to start getting people swimming from an early age. The national average for children passing everything on the swimming curriculum is 75%, but when you look at Black, Asian and other ethnic minority areas, this goes down to 42%. You tend to find that a lot of the less confident swimmers who end up sitting on the side of the pool in swimming lessons are those whose parents don’t take them to swimming lessons outside of the education system. 

“Realistically, it’s going to be a slow process, but we’re getting there. One big hurdle that we’ve overcome is that we’re now finally having the conversations. Once people start talking, convincing people of the importance of swimming becomes easier.”

Join the conversation and use the hashtag #BCStheconvo and follow Ed and BSA

Listen to the full episode here: