WILMINGTON, DE — The mayor of Wilmington, Delaware, says his city “should be held accountable” for the “poor judgment” that resulted in a group of Muslim children being kicked out of a public pool because they weren’t suitably dressed. The children were wearing cotton shorts, shirts and hijabs, which the manager of the pool said was against a policy.
But Tahsiyn A. Ismaa’eel, who owns and runs the Darul-Amaanah Academy and is director of its summer Arabic enrichment program, told news outlets she’s been bringing students to the Foster Brown public pool in Wilmington for four years and no one has ever questioned their attire.
Ismaa’eel told the Delaware News Journal there were no posted rules prohibiting cotton and that other kids were wearing cotton. She said she thought her students were being discriminated against because they are Muslim, and told the newspaper she’s been harassed by pool management on two prior occasions this summer.
She questioned the pool manager about why the Muslim children were treated differently, “and then it became, ‘Oh, the pool is overcapacity so you need to leave.’ “
The manager called a police officer, who routinely sits in a patrol car in the parking lot, into the pool area to inquire of Ismaa’eel what time she and her group would be leaving.
“She said there are people waiting to get in and waiting for you to leave,” Ismaa’eel said of the officer.
John Rago, the mayor’s deputy chief of staff for policy and communication, said in a statement that swimmers are expected to wear proper attire — though the published rules don’t specify what “proper attire” is beyond a prohibition against cut-off jeans. State regulations state that bathing suits are “recommended” at public pools, but neither code makes any mention of cotton.
Rago said rules and regulations are “designed to ensure the safety of those who use the pools.”
“Among the safety considerations is the fact that cotton becomes heavy when wet and weighs swimmers down,” Rago said in the statement. “Cotton also strains the pool filtration system more than proper swimwear.”
In her interview with the News Journal, Ismaa’eel said she is communicating the rule with the children of the parents, but pool-friendly religious garments can be expensive and many of the parents live in poverty.
“Kids wear what they have,” she told me the newspaper. “To me, it was heartbreaking to have kids taken out of the pool. … They were completely confused.”
If cotton is a problem, she said the camp will find a way to comply with the rule, but added policies should be clearly posted and enforced citywide.
“You don’t just spring it on them,” she told the newspaper. “Make people aware and don’t treat them like this. … (Children) don’t know about the adults’ politics or policies. Kids want to have fun.”
Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki said he hopes to meet with Ismaa’eel and the children involved so he can give a personal apology for the manager’s conduct, which he said volates the city’s long-standing policy that all people are welcome at public pools. It was wrong that the Muslim children were asked to leave because they were wearing clothing in keeping with their religion.
Purzycki said the city used poor judgment in assessing this entire matter and equally poor judgment in reacting to it.
“We should be held accountable for what happened and how poorly we assessed this incident,” the mayor said in a statement. “I apologize to the children who were directed to leave a city pool because of the religious-required clothing they were wearing. We also referred to vaguely-worded pool policies to assess and then justify our poor judgment, and that was also wrong.”
Purzycki emphasized in the statement that religious-related clothing is permitted at city pools.
Photo: Renee Schiavone / Patch