The suburban Philadelphia swim club that refunded the membership of dozens of young black and Hispanic day-campers after one outing now finds itself on the wrong end of a federal discrimination lawsuit.

What -- someone trying to squeeze money out of a racial controversy? Even Claude Rains in "Casablanca" wouldn't be shocked by this. To say it's disappointing that lawyers have insinuated themselves into what was once a straightforward morality play that the 65 kids of Creative Steps day camp could have profited from is an understatement.

After The Valley Club president's initial statement justifying the cancellation of the camp's swimming privileges because the kids changed the "complexion" and "atmosphere" of the club, the gravity of the public relations disaster the club had on its hands began to sink in.

The Valley Club generated a lot more sympathy when it dropped its inept "complexion" line and moved on to the "not enough lifeguards for so many kids" excuse.

Of course, the $1,950 the club charged Creative Steps for pool privileges was based on an exact head count, so it's odd that anyone was "surprised" when the contractually agreed-to number of kids showed up. It's more likely that a few club members who weren't consulted complained enough to make the club rescind the memberships.

Still, what initially looked like a case of Jim Crow redux is looking a lot murkier now. U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter has gotten involved now that the story has gone national. The state Human Relations Commission is sniffing around, too.

Now that all "safety concerns" have been dealt with, the board of directors (with the blessings of the membership) voted unanimously to invite the day camp back to Huntingdon Valley. This isn't to suggest that the kids should return, but the gesture is significant. It amounts to a moral victory for the kids.

It isn't cynical to point out that fighting a federal lawsuit is expensive. Settling quickly with the day camp is both smart politics and even smarter business. Still, a heartfelt apology carries a bigger karmic payday than a cash infusion into the pockets of a few Philadelphia lawyers. But where there's a pool, there are bound to be sharks.

The kids of Creative Steps shouldn't expect to get paid every time someone hurts their feelings. Where's the dignity in being perceived as a money-grubbing grievance machine? Their spirits are more resilient than their lawyers want them to believe.

On Wednesday, I made the mistake of accepting an invitation to talk about the swim club incident on a nationally syndicated radio program called "JLP." I should have done a rudimentary background check on the host, a black conservative named Jesse Lee Peterson. I'd never heard of him.

Had I spent a few seconds searching the Web, I would have quickly discovered that Mr. Peterson once compared slavery's Middle Passage to riding "in a crowded airplane when you're not in first class." He argues that the white men who brought Africans to this country were doing them a favor by taking them out of Africa and converting them to Christianity.

"Thank God for slavery," the Sean Hannity protege once told his audience. Such comments make the self-hating Uncle Ruckus on "The Boondocks" television show sound like the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Mr. Peterson kept asking me to put myself in the shoes of the "poor, white people" and their "chillun" by the pool who had to deal with "bus loads of misbehaving black kids" shipped into their neighborhood from inner-city Philadelphia.

When I told Mr. Peterson that the testimony from those who were actually there, including white club members, was that the day camp kids were polite and orderly, he didn't want to hear it. "You know how those inner city kids are," he said, sounding exactly like Uncle Ruckus. That's when I was convinced I was being "punked."

"I'm blacker than the ace of spades," Peterson said during one of our stranger interludes. Later, a caller thanked me for trying to have a sensible conversation about the issue, but he was cut off moments before Peterson brought on his sidekick, a white guy named "Patrick" who accused me of being in denial about black people and "rowdy" day camp kids in particular.

All I could do was laugh at the sheer genius of their antebellum tag team.

I wish I hadn't squandered what little credibility I have by appearing on such a stupid, racist program. For that, I apologize.