American Red Cross apologizes for poster some call racist

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

American Red Cross apologizes for poster some call racist

Updated 5:54 pm, Monday, June 27, 2016

DENVER (AP) — The American Red Cross issued an apology Monday for a water safety poster that some suggested had a racist message.

The cartoon poster showed children playing in a swimming pool. Nearly all of the white children's activities were labeled as "cool," while the children of color were depicted acting in unsafe ways and were labeled "not cool."

KUSA-TV (http://on9news.tv/28ZacSj ) talked to Margaret Sawyer, who first saw the poster in Salida, Colorado, and then again in Fort Morgan, Colorado.

She said she first thought it was outdated — that it couldn't be a recent poster.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/American-Red-Cross-apologizes-for-poster-some-8328105.php

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[forest444]

1. Not cool indeed.

[Leontius]

2. Some people need to get a fucking life.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. "In America... we are culturally conditioned to believe

that white is superior, black is inferior, and the manifestation of that cultural conditioning is that blacks are underestimated, undervalued, and marginalized".

-Joe Madison

Like the 1993 AT&T ad that depicted every continent with human on the phone, except Africa, where they used a gorilla instead.

[Igel]

4. Cartoon in an employee magazine.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1993/09/17/att-apologizes-for-racist-illustration/22b85908-8c5b-47dd-ad10-0a293c9a8623/

Not ad. (Yeah, I know. There's little difference between a cartoon drawn by a person and put a magazine intended for in-house use by an editor and a national ad campaign produced by a team and approved by a range of senior officials, implemented by yet a third team and seen by 10s of millions domestically and possibly internationally. We, no, that's not quite true. There's a fairly large difference.)

Note that the image itself says it's not an ad.

There are lots of times when indignation makes for exaggeration, another word for "now, this isn't the truth". It's usually a bad move for reducing the problem and often increases tensions, but it's great for outrage and producing community solidarity. We each get to decide which we prefer--increased insularity or increased intergroup bonding.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. The AT&T story got alot of play

given the wide distribution of that publication at the time and everything else going on post-Rodney King.

In fact, Joe Madison spent his first hour this morning on SiriusXM discussing the Red Cross and the AT&T incidents.

The insidiousness of institutionalized racism across industries and media formats and your dismissing the problem as seen by those who are victims of it, clearly illustrates why the problem continues to exist.

[treestar]

5. lol how subtle (not)

4 black kids doing wrong and only 2 white. About 8 white kids and 7 black kids.

[IronLionZion]

7. Too many people still associate dark skin with criminal behavior

[Shrek]

8. What is "Not Cool" about using the diving board?

Neither does the kid next to him seem to be misbehaving.

[snooper2]

9. The kid on the left jumped not using the diving board, the kid to his right

is peeing in the pool

[ManiacJoe]

10. The previous diver was still in the entry area.