Sports / children Minority Kids Sink at Swimming Push on to get children in the swim By Peter Fearon, Newser Staff Posted May 2, 2008 2:11 AM CDT Copied World-class swimmer Cullen Jones teaches water safety to Jaquil Wise, 7, at the pool in Newark, N.J., where Jones learned to swim. (AP Photo/Mike Derer) More than half of black and Latino children never learn to swim, according to the governing body of US competitive swimming, which is trying to encourage more minority involvement in the sport. Nearly 60% of black and Latino children can't swim—compared to a third of white kids—and they're 2.6 times more likely than white kids to drown. They're also six times more likely than white children to have a parent who can't swim, according to the survey by USA Swimming. (More children stories.) Report an error