Artist Homer Jackson has created 15 video vignettes that talk about the black relationship with water. Mami Watari, A river spirit associated with West Africa that continued to be worshiped by the African people of the Caribbean.Yoruba River Goddess Osun is honored annually During the Odande Festival in Philadelphia..
Jackson’s vignette includes a poetic meditation on the alienation of the black community from the water. An interdisciplinary artist Philadelphia Jazz ProjectGrow up in North Philadelphia. There he recalls that he didn’t feel welcome in the public pool.
“I lived far enough away from the recreation center, so you seemed to endanger your life and go to the recreation center, do you know what I mean?” Jackson said. “You didn’t go there unless it was a really organized situation, with eight of us going swimming or eight going basketball. I think this also applies to Philadelphia. The recreation center It’s the property of people who live nearby. If you don’t live nearby, you’re a guest. “
Jackson has always been an active person. As a teenager, he moved up the ranks as a seasoned boy scout. He said he had enough merit badges to become an Eagle Scout, but couldn’t get the swimming badges he needed. Swimming was not something he could comfortably do.
“I grew up in the aftermath of Emmett Till,” he said, referring to the horrific killing of a young black boy in 1955 by a white mob in Mississippi. “My mother had an invisible chain to me, so I couldn’t go far anytime, anywhere.”
Jackson said he resisted swimming because of the fear he inherited from his mother.
“For a long time I didn’t know who the guy Emmet was, but I hated him because he ruined my enjoyment,” he said.
“Pool” indicates that African Americans have paved the way for the pool. Among the many video profiles is Jim Ellis, the legendary Philadelphia swimming coach who was the subject of the 2007 movie “Pride” starring Terrence Howard.
In an interview, Ellis, nominally an abbreviation for Philadelphia Recreation Agency, recalls starting the city’s first black competitive swimming team, called PDR, which Ellis called pride, determination, and resilience. I did.
Many swimmers in Ellis’ program have become world-class, including Michael Norment, the first black swimmer on the US national team. Most recently, through the work of Ellis and others, black swimmers have begun to invade the elite class of sports. In 2000, Anthony Ervin became the first black American to win the gold and silver Olympic medals, and in 2004, Maritza Correia McLendon was the first to win the Olympic medal as part of the swimming relay team. Became a black woman. Cullen Jones became the first black American to set a world record in swimming in 2006.
“It was my way to find a way to make a difference,” Ellis said. “We were protesting in the 1960s and 70s. It was a big move to find something to help African Americans in this country. My contribution was through swimming.”
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