When I first read the headline, I thought for sure it would be some wacko claim, but this seems pretty blatantly racist.

omfg this has /b/ written all over it xD

Was this in Habbo land? what utter nonsense ;p the black guy is wearing a suit and is the one SAYING the pool is closed. its not like there is a red line through him.

its a meme, not a racial assault, and overreacting to it is what they want anyway...

Well, it would be a "meme," if the pool was actually closed. But since it seems that the pool wasn't actually closed, that one must find another rational. While I too thought this was going to be just another overreaction... after reading it, I'm not so sure.

Yeah - it was difficult to tell from the article (fault of the journalist), but it seems as if the pool was open, but that a person or persons unrelated to the pool put the sign there as a "No Blacks" message.

At least that's my interpretation.

It's tacky. I try not to do this often--I did it an earlier comment elsewhere--but I remember when Lark and I were newly married no kids, and my sister came to visit me with her then 4 year old daughter. We went swimming in the pool. The rules were that no kids could be in the pool after 7. We were the only ones there so I didn't think it mattered. Besides she was the ONLY child to three adults. I don't think she was going to take over. (Now she might!) The next night it was the same. We all went out. Then after about 30 minutes another couple came to the pool. They were a weird match...anyway...after that night my niece couldn't be in the pool after 7. The manager spoke to me. She said she personally didn't care. But that we needed to respect the rule for other tenants etc. It was clearly that odd couple...a whole nother story.

It seems with this story somebody(maybe more than one somebody) didn't want those particular kids around.

maybe they were trying to be naughty in the pool and just didn't want ur niece around.. people are more likely to file a complaint if there are minors present..

disclaimer- smarty in no way supports being naughty in public pools.. in fact u can get a pretty bad rash this way.. the chlorine killing bacteria myth is just that a myth.. use protection people and stay away from dirty pool adventures.. :-)

So if you didn't like the headline, then why use it for your post.. why not create your own.. say maybe.. Anonymous racist sign put up at local pool.. or Racist sign angers residents.. just wonderin

At pools I have been to they have Adult only swim times. This is usually because Adults go to a pool to swim laps and kids go to play in the water. Most adults in pools don't shriek or yell or unexpectedly get in the way of people doing laps. However pool water seems to cause most childrens' voices to become very loud and shrill and annoying. I think that it is reasonable for people to expect to have some time when they can swim and not have to worry about children getting in their way or yelling the the whole time.
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The article is so poorly written. They obviously have a major asshat living in the subdivision. Anonymous taunts at people like this are the ultimate in cowardice.

I didn't say I didn't like the headline.
I said I figured it was another example of someone playing the race card when the problem has nothing to do with racism.

As I said, after reading it, it was pretty clear to me to be completely racist

I also have to say it is obviously racist.

It seemed that the article implied that the pool wasn't closed.

The question is was the sign the normal sign or a new sign.

If is was a new sign, then it might not have been racist, it may have been anti-child.

If the sign is not the normal one (whether the pool was closed or not) then it is most definitely racist.

If the sign is the normal one, it may or may not have been put up for racist reasons, but even then I have to question why have a caricature of a black person with some old afro? Why wouldn't the sign have a more generic looking image?

"Soderberg said it quickly occurred to his wife that the flier was aimed at Altorfer's grandkids, who are visiting from California."

That would be offensive no doubt.

Otherwise its just using a character that has been used in tons of other acceptable media to anthropomorphize the message of the sign.

So wait...

Is the pool closed? Or just for black people?

Not racist.

The pool is closed for EVERYONE. Not just black people.

it wasn't closed though..

Its a joke!