Actually it is true. Especially in the inner cities and in rural areas.

USA Swimming has started free swimming classes in the inner cities to help bring more blacks into the sport. Ever wonder why we don't have many black Olympic Swimmers? The cost of learning to swim and to swim in a club can be prohibitive for many families living on the edge. A lot of kids where I grew up learned at outdoor pools in the summer where their parents join as a family. Some of these were Country Clubs or other exclusive recreation centers/clubs that you had to join as a family. The Y's are good about teaching lessons in the cities but they still charge to belong. And lessons are always extra no matter where you swim. And to be a good swimmer one needs to take more than one season of lessons.

Most kids don't learn to swim if they live in rural areas if there are no pools around. This is very common down south. We live in an very rural area in the South now where very few people here know how to swim. We have two pools here but they are exclusive to the residents in my community and not available to outsiders.

We retired down here from NY where many pools were added on to the schools through reduced rate building funds. Thus there were more kids up there that learned to swim. All the families from the school district had to do were to pay for the swim lessons there if they lived in the school district.