Dozens of swimmers participate in YWCA Lower Cape Fear’s Swim Against Racism’

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WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) – Dozens of swimmers dove into the water at the YWCA Lower Cape Fear on Sunday morning, but it wasn’t just any regular swim meet.

The organization held their annual ‘Swim Against Racism’ event. The goal, to give the community a chance to take a stand, while also having fun.

“Where people instead of standing against racism, they swim against racism,” said Program Outreach Director Jhaniqua Palmer. “And so what we wanted to do was not only just promote standing against racism, but using our amazing aquatics program.”

The organization’s efforts didn’t just start this weekend, they have been advocating for minorities and women for 108 years.

The whole month of April has been an effort to continue the conversation on racism within the community, and they’re not done yet.

“It’s important because we want to make it a very comfortable and engaging way to let your voice be heard about racism,” said CEO of the organization Velva Jenkins. “There’s so many people that don’t know how to speak up and share their thoughts. But, they could come out and do events like this and say, I’m here standing against racism.”

Being the leader of the organization is a second career for Jenkins, but she says she’s made it her life’s mission to make a difference in her community.

“So this definitely is not a way for me to make a living,” she said. “It’s a way for me to give back to the community, and to stand up for things that I know are just not creating a fair society and peaceful society.”

For more information on the organization and their mission, click here.

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