When Everyone Swims: Water Equality at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema

On April 20, the 2 For 2 Foundation facilitated a screening of “When Everyone Swims” at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. This documentary, filmed by Emmy award-winner Jerald B. Harkness, highlights how water safety is a concern for everyone. The event was an invitation for media and communication professionals to use their platforms to spread the message that the inability to swim is a leading cause of death and that, by making resources universally accessible, the basic human right to survive an encounter with water can be honored – for everyone.

Accompanied by Diana Hackney on the left, Nancy Baker presents an anonymous donation of $10,000 to support the 2 For 2 non-profit foundation’s mission. Royal Examiner Photo Credits: Brenden McHugh

Featuring testimonies from people of all walks of life, including Olympic athletes, the documentary emphasizes how water as an environment meets so many needs, how it can be a happy place as well as a potential opportunity to rise to the challenge, testing one’s limits while bonding with others who want to do the same. Water is the great equalizer. It does not differentiate skin color. If one does not know how to swim, drowning is the only alternative, regardless of race. The film includes comments from several black people, describing how they overcame stereotypes to succeed in the field of water.

At the screening of a documentary on water safety, “When Everyone Swims”, which took place at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Diana Hackney played a key role in organizing the event on behalf of the 2 For 2 Foundation.

As the film progressed, the racial aspect came into clearer focus. Prior to the Civil Rights Act and even prior to the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, the desegregation of public swimming pools was a legal priority in the U.S., though the progress made met resistance as many country clubs and other private establishments built their own facilities. Thus, swimming was largely a matter of privilege, which, on some level, it still is today. Many black children attending public school do not have that advantage. But zooming out from the racial focus, the documentary made it evident that all children suffer when a school does not invest in a pool and the relevant programs.

Science has shown that developmental growth is dramatically improved by safe contact with water. Programs like “Water Babies” initiate that contact as early as infancy. More coordinated and more likely to succeed in many subject areas, those children are part of a larger movement to bridge a generational gap, making water access a right instead of a luxury. Whatever demographic discrepancies there may be, only good things happen when a parent or the designated instructor introduces that infant to the aquatic world. With many adults in today’s world unable to swim, it is critical that their children do not follow suit. Having learned to swim, the skill will never be regretted; its benefits will last into old age.