Black youth may have to go back to playing in muddy swimming holes if some organizations go unchallenged. The latest story was an interesting case in which a group of children from a predominantly Black and Latino daycare were kicked out of the swimming pool at a country club that is predominantly White. The children overheard the parents at the pool making racially charged statements, and they also were not given an explanation from the owners of the club as to why they were being excluded. The daycare was given their money back, and told not to return.

This case brought up some interesting thoughts about whether or not racism pays the bills. Forgive me for being irritatingly objective in my analysis, but I want to put aside the fact that I am a Black man for just a second. Don’t get me wrong, if my children were being unfairly put out of a swimming pool, I might be out breaking legs.

I refuse to allow those I love to be treated as second-class citizens.But there is another issue to be considered here: whether or not it makes economic sense for the owners of this pool to kick these kids out. Even if the owners were not racist themselves (which I will —perhaps incorrectly—assume they were not), we have to realize that doing the right thing doesn’t always pay the bills.

Slavery lasted for hundreds of years, not because people thought it was a good thing, but because the entire cotton industry was dependent upon slave labor. The same is true for the NCAA, where everyone logically sees that the athletes’ families should be compensated, but such compensation would hurt the bottom line of those who are getting rich off Black families.In the case of the country club, the owners may have removed the children from the pool because their existing clientele were not in favor of having these children in the pool with them.

It could have been because the new kids were Black, because they were poor, or because they were not members. Either way, they were excluded and many are perceiving this to be an act of racism.The challenge for the owners of the club, however, is that the financial benefit of keeping your current members happy comes at a tremendous price.

First, there is the fact that the daycare may actually sue you. I have stated clearly that they should see if they have a legal case against the country club. If someone is going to be ignorant, it is only natural that they be required to pay the “ignorance tax,” which comes from a lawsuit settlement.

Secondly, there is the negative publicity. Whether the director of this country club sees himself as being racist, the truth is that it doesn’t matter much to the public right now. They are going to be known across America as the pool that wouldn’t let the Black kids swim.

Perhaps you could get away with such an image in 1945, but you can’t get away with it now. Third, there is the obvious fact that they chose to give $1,950 dollars in swimming pool fees back to the daycare. Giving money back doesn’t exactly help your bottom line.

Speaking of the bottom line, my bottom line is this: Many people chose to let go of racism in the past, not because they truly cared about Black people, but because they realized that racial constraints don’t usually make economic sense. Our nation has a Black president because Americans realized that it would not be economically prudent to pass up an intelligent black man for a couple of mediocre politicians. Similarly, the country club may have thrown away good money to maintain their status quo. Hopefully, this country club will soon see that racism is not only socially distasteful, it is also economically ignorant.