American Red Cross apologises for 'racist' water safety poster
- Published
The American Red Cross has apologised for producing a water safety poster which has been labelled "racist".
The charity says it produced the pamphlet to try to reduce the drowning rate in towns and cities across the US.
But one Twitter user said it was "super racist" for portraying black children in a negative light.
"We deeply apologise for any misunderstanding, as it was absolutely not our intent to offend anyone," the American Red Cross .
"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.
This is the Salida Hot Springs Aquatic Centre in Colorado, where one of the posters was found
"To this end, we have removed the poster from our website and Swim App and have discontinued production."
"It was absolutely not our intent to offend anyone and apologized for this inadvertent action."
The complaint came from Margaret Sawyer - after she noticed the poster at two different pools while their family was travelling through Colorado.
It seemed to show black children being the only ones doing anything wrong.
Her husband then tweeted this message.
Talking to local NBC News station, KUSA, Margaret Sawyer said she couldn't believe her eyes.
"I thought, 'It must be really outdated. This can't possibly be a recent poster.'
"I saw this one and I just kept thinking, 'It looks like they're trying to do something here that shows all kids together of all different backgrounds but they're clearly not hitting the mark.'
"I felt really angry."
This is the second swimming pool - in Fort Morgan, Colorado - where the Red Cross poster was found
Margaret Sawyer says she noticed the posters in Salida and Fort Morgan.
Ebony Rosemond runs an organisation called Black Kids Swim, a group dedicated to helping African-American children to learn how to swim and engage with it.
She told KUSA that it was inexplicable how a big American charity had approved the poster.
"When I saw the poster, I was saddened that the Red Cross had chosen to put out an image that might one, discourage African-Americans from trying swimming if they were new to it, and also something that would extend a negative stereotype," she said.
"How can an organisation that prides itself on being so open-minded, so understanding of the diverse populations of the world, create something like this?"
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