Baltimore Station Backpedals After Biased Report On Black Kids Swimming In Closed Pool
A Baltimore radio station is being criticized on social media for the way it reported on kids sneaking into a closed pool.
The city, like most of the country, is dealing with unrelenting heat. To make matters worse, three city pools remain closed with their gates chained because of infrastructure issues, according to local media reports.
Baltimore children are resorting to various methods of dealing with the extreme heat, including swimming in pools that are closed.
On Tuesday, WBAL NewsRadio shared footage of several Black children swimming in a closed city pool in a tweet that made them sound more like hardened criminals than children seeking some sort of relief. The station also showed several other children entering the pool grounds.
“Several children were caught breaking into one of the many Baltimore City pools that remain closed with their gates chained,” the tweet read. “The break-in was caught on Monday. Footage details the children breaking in, setting up ‘camp’, and entering the water along with a scooter.”
Several children were caught breaking into one of the many Baltimore City pools that remain closed with their gates chained. The break-in was caught on Monday. Footage details the children breaking in, setting up "camp", and entering the water along with a scooter. pic.twitter.com/ZotSKafIq2
— WBAL NewsRadio 1090 and FM 101.5 (@wbalradio) July 18, 2023
Many Twitter users had a big problem with the framing of the tweet ― and the possibility that the station may have spent money on a helicopter to make sure the kids were filmed in the act.
OH NO. Children are "swimming."
F*uck y'all for making them sound like criminals. https://t.co/QMj9vhDZ4u— Tananarive Due - THE WISHING POOL (@TananariveDue) July 18, 2023
It was 93 degrees in Baltimore today.
Demonizing children for trying to stay cool is more immoral than scaling that fence could ever be. https://t.co/aBeaU0sHZq— Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis (@RevJacquiLewis) July 18, 2023
this is what we mean when we say crime is a social and racialized construct AND that media drives mass criminalization.
white kids hop a pool fence: it's a fun summer montage scene on Laguna Beach or Sweet Valley High. Black kids do it: filmed by helicopters for the 6:00 news. https://t.co/2ccaQY4uGt— Rena (@ReenNahMean) July 18, 2023
I love living in a society where rapid aerial surveillance of little kids swimming is feasible but keeping a pool open during a heat wave is not https://t.co/FKg9TrIWNk
— Sam Biddle (@samfbiddle) July 18, 2023
The amount of money it costs to get a chopper airborne for this campaign to smear black children as criminals could keep this pool open all summer. https://t.co/yqfvEfB3VA
— Alana McLaughlin🏳️⚧️Ⓐ☭ (@AlanaFeral) July 18, 2023
The city’s pools should obviously be open and clean during a July heatwave, but also sending a drone or a helicopter to videotape children swimming should be—if not a crime—the sort of deeply stigmatized behavior that even the most racist newsradio producer would shy away from. https://t.co/fJi0r572Ps
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) July 18, 2023
Our kids shouldn’t have to break into pools in order to have access. Especially when it’s been this hot out. Pools, playgrounds, libraries, & recreational activities should be a right, not a privilege. Why is it always our children that are forgotten unless they’re build jails https://t.co/iAqFYHva9v
— Aaron Maybin (@AaronMMaybin) July 18, 2023
Eventually, someone handling the news station’s social media realized the original tweet wasn’t getting the intended reaction.
So the station backpedaled in a tweet suggesting that, yes, maybe the real problem is that pools are closed, not that kids are trying to keep cool.
We are upset that kids have to go through such lengths to go for a swim.
— WBAL NewsRadio 1090 and FM 101.5 (@wbalradio) July 18, 2023
“We are upset that kids have to go through such lengths to go for a swim,” the station’s new tweet read.
However, Twitter users were skeptical that the sentiment was genuine, with one person wondering why the station was “narcing on them” if it cared so much about the children’s plight.
Interesting back pedaling from your original tweet saying the words “break-in” 3 times in one tweet about those black kids going for a swim? You DID sound upset….but not about how hard it was for them….. https://t.co/UXMNAVvoTf
— Yuh-Line Niou (@yuhline) July 18, 2023
If you actually fucking cared about that you wouldn’t have made them sound like fucking criminals in your original tweet! https://t.co/X2yB71iPPS
— John Spera (@Johncs56) July 18, 2023
Which is why you categorized it as a “break-in” and peppered with context about how they set up camp as if they’re “squatting.” But y’all are upset they can’t swim there. Right right right right. https://t.co/Puq4NH8546
— Brian Lee (@Imake_education) July 18, 2023
"We are upset that kids have to break into closed pools, so much so that we sent a helicopter to closely trail them and stake them out like an I-Team reporter waiting for city workers at a diner." https://t.co/uToJIOWjw0
— Pudge Heffelfinger (@pudgeyale92) July 18, 2023
bitch you're the ones narcing on them!!! https://t.co/cH7KCHBkpB
— 💖✨ dylan ✨💖 (@villainmorris) July 18, 2023
WBAL NewsRadio did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
