Olympic swimmer, Lia Neal made history as the 2nd African-American female to qualify for the US Olympic Swim Team. With her recent wins in the 2012 London Games (her team won bronze medal in the women’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay at the London Olympic Games with a time of 3 minutes and 34.24 seconds) she has helped to open up the discussion about the stereotype that African-American children and teens can’t swim. In New York City alone, 70 percent of African-American kids don’t know how to swim. Many children are unable to swim because of limited access to public pools or just because their parents never learned themselves. It is important to break the cycle of...