By: Nycole Hutchens
The American Red Cross Association has come under fire for a “Pool Safety” poster that was released on their website Tuesday.
The association displayed a cartoon poster titled “Be Cool, Follow the Rules” and depicted young children, black and white with labels as “cool” and “not cool” behavior.
Ironically, the poster consistently shows mostly every child of color in the poster “horsing around” and doing something that is considered unsafe and labeling them “not cool,” while white children are depicted as safe or “cool.”
Twitter users went in on social media, some calling the poster “racist” and feeding into propagandist stereotypes.
Hey, @RedCross, send a new pool poster to @SalidaRec bc the current one they have w your name on it is super racist pic.twitter.com/TY8MmFB3Qk
— John Sawyer (@JSawyer330) June 21, 2016
@JSawyer330 I used to do Red Cross water safety trainings! We definitely did not have these racist posters!
— LauraEllen, MSW (@LauraEllenMSW) June 21, 2016
The American Red-Cross has since released a statement apologizing.
“The American Red Cross appreciates and is sensitive to the concerns raised regarding one of the water safety posters we produced,” the hospital released in a statement to NBCBLK. “We deeply apologize for any misunderstanding, as it was absolutely not our intent to offend anyone. As one of the nation’s oldest and largest humanitarian organizations, we are committed to diversity and inclusion in all that we do, every day.” In a statement made on Tuesday.
What are your thoughts?
