Strides Made to Ban Hair Discrimination in U.S. Workplaces, But Not in the Olympic Pool
By Jr Contributor, Madison Johnson
“There’s no reason to ban swim caps that have been used at competitive levels of swimming for a while now.”
- John Dawes, an alumni swimmer from Omaha’s North High
Less than three weeks after the signing of a bill making discrimination against natural Black hairstyles illegal in Nebraska’s workplaces, and as CROWN bills (Creating Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair) are passing across the U.S., the federation approving equipment for this year's Olympic swimmers says caps designed specifically for Afros will not be allowed. The International Swimming Federation known as FINA (Fédération Internationale de Natation) is quoted in an article by the Global China Television Network, saying that Soul Caps, made for swimmers with Afros, don’t follow “the natural form of the head”. According to Swimming World magazine, FINA claimed, “to their best knowledge, the athletes competing at the International events never used, neither require to use, caps of such size and configuration.”
Soul Cap is a Black-owned British company started by two friends when they were learning to swim as adults. Owners Michael Chapman and Toks Ahmed-Salawudeen state on their website that after meeting a woman
struggling to find a swim cap to fit her natural Black hair, they were inspired to create their products. “That one woman we met stuck in our minds. So over the next few weeks, we spoke to our sisters, our mums, and our circle of friends.”
In a Tweet regarding the situation, Soul Cap commented, “FINA’s recent dismissal could discourage many younger athletes from pursuing the sport as they progress through local, county and national competitive swimming.”
Preventing Black people from adequately protecting their hair at the international level is just one more barrier keeping them out of the water, though another big one is the inability to swim. A New York Times article, Water Damage, outlines the history of Black people not being able to swim. Historically, slave owners prevented slaves from learning to swim as that would provide a means of escape. And before the late 1960s, most American pools were segregated, with some pool managers going as far as dumping acid onto Black swimmers during a “swim in,” according to the New York Times article. Sociologists like Professor Carol Irwin from the University of Memphis, suggest the stereotype of ‘Black people don’t swim’ has become self-perpetuating because generations of Black families not learning to swim has led to a generational fear of drowning. The University of Memphis helped conduct a 2010 study sponsored by USA Swimming that showed roughly 70% of African American children said they had “no or low ability to swim.” This number has increased recently to 64% for Black children, with the strongest current predictor of swim skill being socioeconomic standing. The 2017 results showed that 79% of kids from low-income families have “little or no swim ability.”
Notably, the banning of Soul Caps by FINA comes as Critical Race Theory (CRT), a legal framework for analyzing racist social structures, has become a hot button issue across the U.S. and in Nebraska. The connection between FINA, a modern institution making a decision perpetuating a stereotype that exists due to slavery, is a prime example of CRT in action as it exposes the racism of the assumption that no international athletes need these swim caps, meaning there aren’t any competitive swimmers with Afros which isn’t the case.
Following the public outcry regarding the decision, FINA released a statement saying that they were reviewing the situation and understood the importance of inclusivity and representation. John Dawes, an alumni swimmer from Omaha’s North High, says, “There’s no reason to ban swim caps that have been used at competitive levels of swimming for a while now.” Dawes argues that the caps level the playing field by accommodating a swimmer’s natural hair, no matter the style, “I’m happy that FINA is reassessing the caps.”