​​Statistics from Sport England states

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95% of Black adults and 80% of  Black children do not swim in England.

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93% of Asian adults and 78% of Asian children do not swim in England.

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1 in 4 children who complete their primary education are unable to swim.

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According to the WHO, the risk of drowning is higher amongst minority ethnic communities.

 

 

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People of African, Caribbean and Asian heritage have historically been precluded from the world of aquatics. The barriers that these communities face are often entrenched and complex, which has resulted in a lack of education in water safety and drowning prevention.

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In order to make aquatics more diverse, equitable and inclusive, it’s imperative that we understand the physical and cultural barriers that affect those that have been historically precluded from it.

My name is Ed Accura and I am the producer of the Blacks Can’t Swim film documentaries as well as one of the four founders of the Black Swimming Association (BSA). I spent all my life hiding behind the myths, stereotypes that surround Black people and swimming and only recently decided to learn how to swim.

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This journey began in 2019, when I wrote the song Make A Film Called Blacks Can’t Swim, which basically was asking someone to make a film about the disproportionate number of people from African, Caribbean, and Asian heritage that didn’t swim. In my circle of friends and family, I realized that this was a big issue and therefore ended up making that film documentary myself which became the platform for what we have today.

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The influence in both the making of the first film documentary and me learning how to swim was my daughter. I knew I would never be able to forgive myself if she ever fell in water and I wasn’t able to rescue her.

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The Blacks Can’t Swim film documentaries opens up sensitive conversations on the issues faced by people within the Black and Asian communities not engaging in aquatics and the barriers that have precluded them. These stories are told through their personal lived experiences. The film documentaries have made it easier for us to engage in sensitive conversations which previously were very uncomfortable to have. So now we are having the conversations, how do we address the issue?

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In 2020, Seren Jones, Danielle Obe, Alice Dearing, and myself (Ed Accura) founded the Black Swimming Association as the first not for profit organization set up to highlight the importance of swimming, water safety and aquatics in general within the African, Caribbean, and Asian communities. The film documentaries highlights the issues and paves the way for the BSA to works with our partners in address them through research, advocacy, education, and support.