The American Red Cross has apologized for a safety poster placed at two municipal pools — one in Salida and another in Fort Morgan — that some thought was racist because of how it portrayed whites and blacks.
The organization said the poster’s intent was to promote safety by showing “cool” and “not cool” behavior at the pool, but critics noted that white children were behaving while those of color were not.
A noted “a new pool poster” should be sent because “the current one they have (with) your name on it is super racist,” a Twitter message noted.
The agency responded quickly: “We deeply apologize for any misunderstanding, as it was absolutely not our intent to offend anyone,” it said in a statement, adding it has asked partner agencies and locations to remove the poster. The campaign was designed to reduce the drowning rate in high-risk communities.
The poster was designed and first displayed in 2014 at pools in 50 communities.
“With this campaign, we are focusing on areas with higher-than-average drowning rates and participants who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to take swim lessons,” the statement said. “… We apologize for any inadvertent misunderstanding with regard to the production of this poster, and believe we have taken every step to address the situation.”
The poster shows children at play in and around a pool, noting how those who follow rules are “cool” and those who do not are “not cool.” Those labeled cool included a white father playing with his child and a white girl at a diving board. Those not cool included a black girl pushing a white girl into the pool and black boys diving from an unapproved area and roughhousing in the middle of the pool.
But it also showed a white adult at poolside with a bottle, and a white boy and a black boy running at the pool’s edge. One of two lifeguards motioning to those misbehaving to stop is a black woman.
That prompted others on Twitter to respond by defending the message of the poster rather than the sentiment.
“Somebody explain to me how this is racist?” one person tweeted.
Said another: “Explain to me how it’s not!”
https://twitter.com/JSawyer330/status/745075509047005184