What Happened to the Content of His Character?

In his famous "I Have a Dream" Speech, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said we should be judged by the "content of our character" and not "by the color of our skin."

It's sad to think that in 2009 the patrons of the All-White Huntington Valley Swim Club don't appreciate that message.

I'm sure you've heard the story by now: two weeks ago outside Philadelphia, more than 60 children from a summer camp tried to go swimming at a club that their camp had a contract to use. They paid $1900 for the privilege, but apparently the people at the club didn't know that the group of kids was predominantly Black.

When the campers entered the pool, white parents allegedly took their kids out of the water, and the swimming club's staff asked the campers to leave. The next day, the club told the summer camp that their membership would be canceled and that their payment would be refunded.

The President of the Valley Swim Club, John G. Duesler, now says he and his family are receiving hate email and phone calls to his home. After the incident he commented that the reason the black campers were tossed was that they would “change the complexion of the club” and they couldn’t come back.

But the most telling comment Duesler made was that “this is a terrible misrepresentation of everything I stand for”. You know why he said that? Because he was one of President Barack Obama's staunchest supporters during the presidential campaign. He rallied the suburbanites to jump on the Obama bandwagon and that they did.

So how does Duesler go from supporting a black man to lead an entire nation to blocking access to little black children who just wanted to cool off and have a day of fun?

What is the true content of his character?

If you click on the title of this post, you can find Duesler's Twitter page.