Red Cross Accused Of Racism Over Swimming Pool Safety Poster

Red Cross Accused Of Racism Over Swimming Pool Safety Poster
ERIN MARY Doyle
By ERIN MARY Doyle



The American Red Cross has apologised for a pool safety poster at the Salida Pool and Recreation Department in Colorado which has been accused of hidden racial biases.

The poster depicts a variety of children enjoying the pool—some of those ways being dangerous and against the rules, which is “not cool.” What made the image controversial to some is that the poster depicts almost every child doing something ‘not cool’ as black, while the others who are ‘cool’ are not. The only ‘cool’ behavior is from white children.

Check out the poster here:

Red Cross

Twitter:

Red Cross responded to people concerned in a statement: “We deeply apologise for any misunderstanding, as it was absolutely not our intent to offend anyone. As one of the nation’s oldest and largest humanitarian organisations, we are committed to diversity and inclusion in all that we do, every day.

“To this end, we have removed the poster from our website and Swim App and have discontinued production. We have notified all of our partner aquatic facilities requesting they take down the poster. Our organisation has emphasized to our partners and on social media that it was absolutely not our intent to offend anyone and apologised for this inadvertent action. We are currently in the process of completing a formal agreement with a diversity advocacy organization for their guidance moving forward.

“Once again, we apologise for any inadvertent misunderstanding with regard to the production of this poster, and believe we have taken every step to address the situation.”

Ebony Rosemond, who runs the organisation ‘Black Kids Swim’, told The Washington Post that African-American children face discrimination at public pools. “The current state of affairs is unfortunate, and images like the one created and circulated by the Red Cross make things worse. In connection with the lack of images showing African Americans excelling in swimming, the poster doesn’t make you feel welcome — it suggests to a black child that you’re not welcome here.”




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