For the last four years, Tahsiyn Ismaa-eel and her kids from summer camp never had an issue swimming in the Foster Brown Public pool until now. Per reports from Delaware News Journal, the kids from the Darul-Amaanah Academy summer program were asked to leave the pool because of their outfits. The kids were wearing shirts, shorts and hijabs.
The manager of the pool claims that cotton clothing were not allowed in public pools. Ismaa-eel disagreed claimign the rules have never been enforced. Then police showed up asking when they were going to leave. Ismaa-eel said, “We were approached first about the cotton, and then it became, ‘Oh, the pool is overcapacity so you need to leave.’ … I felt very unwanted.”
There was another summer camp in the pool.
Mayor’s deputy chief John Rago made a statement that cotton “strains the pool filtration system more than proper swimwear,” and it “becomes heavy when wet and weighs swimmers down.”
Parks Director Kevin Kelley Sr. said until new signs are installed, Ismaa-eel’s camp will be allowed to swim there and explained to the pool manager how to act in a “professional manner.”
This isn’t the first incident involving Muslims. Per reports, Mia Miller said her and her three children were asked to leave the pool last month & they were wearing hijabs.
