The Atlantic

A Racial History of Drowning

So that eventually every kid learns to swim
Source: Brian P McGinnis / Shutterstock

"Children should be taught never to roughhouse in water and never to hold another child underwater." So recommends author Jane Brody at The New York Times yesterday, on the importance of teaching kids to swim. Amid that sort of advice, she makes a right turn into the shadows: drowning is the number-two cause of death in children -- and racial disparities in the statistics are important to consider in improving safety. She writes:

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