The Red Cross has apologised after releasing a children’s poster that has been slammed by many as ‘racist’.
The furore began when a concerned Colorado mother posted a picture of the pool safety poster online, pointing out that it appeared to suggest that white children were “cool” and black and Latino children were “not cool.”
The poster attempts to explain what is and isn’t acceptable poolside behaviour, unfortunately, of all of the children portrayed as misbehaving, none of them are white.
Margaret Sawyer pointed out: “Staff at both of these city pools had never noticed anything wrong with this poster. Horrifying that children across the country are absorbing this message.”
Soon other parents were voicing their disgust. “This pisses me off.” posted Millie Hansen. “I’d love to sit down and chat with whoever came up with this piece of garbage.”
Seriously…did no one #AmericanRedCross see the #unconsciousbias in this ‘super racist’ pool poster https://t.co/Ks7xyMiGZx
— Star Jones (@StarJonesEsq) June 27, 2016
Someone at the @RedCross really screwed up, what’s up with this poster? #RedCross #notcoolredcross #notcool pic.twitter.com/NjZzegOH9h
— Kris Areché (@KrisAreche) June 27, 2016
Confirming the poster has been removed from the website and all swimming pools with immediate effect, the Red Cross said: “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,”
“We are currently in the process of completing a formal agreement with a diversity advocacy organisation for their guidance moving forward,” the organisation added.
Have you ever seen an obviously racist poster in a public place? Let us know about it on Twitter @HerFamilydotie.
