Teaching Black children to swim heals generational trauma and saves lives, experts say

When Torrence Thomas heard news that six Black teenagers drowned in Louisiana's Red River as they struggled to save a friend who had slipped into deeper waters, he knew something needed to be done.

The incident, now more than a decade old, shocked the state, Thomas said. It's also all too common, according to data. Black children drown at more than twice the rate of white children, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.