Schema Magazine

Don't let this black-and-white picture fool you. This sign isn't from the time of Abe Lincoln or Martin Luther King Jr. Rather, this sign is from last year.

Jamie Hein, the Ohioan owner of the pool in the photograph, noted that a black teen in the neighborhood was using many chemicals in her hair. To prevent this teen from turning the pool's water "cloudy," Hein erected a "white only" sign.

For doing this, the Ohio Civil Rights Commission found that Hein violated the Ohio Civil Rights Act. Hein, however, argues that she's not being racist. She says that she only erected the sign to keep the water clear. If she's telling the truth, then she's an idiot.

If Hein didn't want the teen's hair products to turn the pool's water cloudy, then she could have approached the teen about it. If the teen didn't comply, she could go about setting a ban on people who use an excessive amount of hair products. A ban of this kind would be similar to making it mandatory for children to wear socks in an indoor playground. It doesn't infringe on anyone's rights—it's just for the good of everyone.

Instead, Hein decided to ban all black people from her pool—hair products or not. But not all black people use excessive amounts of hair products. Not all people who use excessive amounts of hair products are black. This is where the logic that Hein claims she has fails.

For these reasons, I think Hein's lying. She's just running out of excuses. If she thinks that her lie will work, then she's even more of an idiot than she would be if she were telling the truth.

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Brandon Woo is a happy high school student whose interests lie in art, writing, education, current events, and sex. If you have any suggestions about something that Brandon might want to write about, send him an email at brandon.woo@schemamag.ca, and he'll get back to you.