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It’s an unfortunate fact that African American kids drown at a rate more than three times the rate of white children. Statistics say that our kids don’t know how to swim and their fear of drowning is the number-one reason, well, why they can’t swim. There are all kinds of theories why black children don’t have swimming skills–financial, geographical, and social reasons are often mentioned–but most important is what steps can we take to keep our kids safe.

It just takes a few seconds for tragedy to strike. Once the drowning has occurred, it is just a few minutes and irreversible brain death can occur.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, drowning is the second-leading cause of unintentional injury-related death for those under 19 and can be prevented. This article at ABC News also notes that while 40 percent of white children were found to have low or no swimming ability, the same was true for nearly 70 percent of black children, according to the USA Swimming survey. Latino children fall behind with 58 percent having low or no swimming ability.

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