Sonny Corinthos

A Red Cross Hospital signboard that carried a "super racist" message about swim safety guidelines for children prompted an apology from the hospital on Tuesday.

The dialogue opened on Twitter after a photo circulated of the poster in Fort Morgan, Colorado. The poster, which has since been taken down, read at the top: "Be Cool, Follow the Rules." Below the heading were depictions of children playing. The white children were labeled as behaving "cool" while children of color were depicted as misbehaving, or "not cool," for breaking pool safety rules.

Red Cross has since confirmed that it has discontinued the production of the poster and has already removed it from the hospital's website and Swim App.

"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."

"Going forward, we are developing more appropriate materials that are more representative of our workforce and the communities we serve," the statement continued. "Our aquatic instructors have been notified of these concerns and we will advocate that our aquatic partner facilities remove the poster until revised materials are available."

But others are still unsatisfied with the Red Cross Hospital's efforts, including the woman who took the photo of the poster.

"I'm just a citizen, I'm not an organization, but I would want the Red Cross to collaborate and build relationships with Black Kids Swim and other organizations that do advocacy around this so that this doesn't happen again," said said Margaret Sawyer, the former executive director of the Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project. "Clearly, they're thinking of themselves as only having one constituency and that's not true."

Sawyer had taken the photo after seeing the poster twice while traveling with her family in Colorado over the weekend.

The mother of two first saw the poster at a pool in Salida, Colorado, where she immediately reported her concerns to the lifeguard on duty and wrote a letter to the facility urging the poster to be taken down.

She initially dismissed the matter after leaving the town, convinced that the poster was an outdated by-product of an earlier time.

She was shocked to find the same poster at another pool in Fort Morgan, Colorado, where she decided to take a photo and post it to social media after reporting the photo to management.

"I think it's really important to think about the messages that we're sending kids, I ask for all of us to take that job on," said Sawyer. "I hope the Red Cross will use this as a lesson for taking their role seriously."

Sawyer is now mobilizing efforts to send formal letters to Red Cross and to the mayors of both cities, Salida and Fort Morgan, to demand that the posters be taken down and replaced at pools nationwide.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/...b0dbb1bbbbb569

d2cheer

I knew someone would post this click bait...

So sonny do you just post articles without any comments on it? You must have an opinion yes??

tripplej

At first, I didn't see anything racist about it. I was mostly focusing on the actions that the poster said was not approved. After reading the article and reading that folks were pointing out that all the "Not Cool" items were over the darker colored kids in the poster, did I even notice it.

I think people are just over analyzing it.. In this PC world, I guess, the marketing folks for every organization has to ensure all angles are covered..

nemein

Maybe I'm just being dismissive but I just can't see getting that upset over something that is fixed by 5 mins of photoshopping. To be honest I still can't figure out what the "not cool" in the middle is about... is he supposed to be yelling or drowning or ??? Also is the "not cool" from the guy diving because he's diving head first or because someone is still in the water. Overall I think it is a bad poster that is not very useful outside of whatever implied racism it may contain.

bluetoast

nemein - you're right. The first kid is yelling, the other kid dove in without waiting for the other kid to leave.

kenbuzz

So... if the poster had nothing but white kids it wouldn't be racist? Or would it be racist for a different reason?

Our society is spiraling out of control down the "that offends me!" drain, isn't it?

General Zod

Yeah I'm not sure about that one either. Drowning = Not Cool!

About the offense taken with this poster.. We've either become an ultra thin-skinned society or we're just a bored country with nothing better to do than look for ways to be offended by stuff.

If I glanced as this poster I wouldn't see anything racist about it but then again I don't spend my time analyzing everything I see to see if I can be offended by it in some way. Yeah, I know, white privilege and all that BS..

Michael Corvin

The one diving in didn't wait for the previous diver to swim out of the way.

To me it looks like 2-3, white-black being "not cool." Hardly racist.

Timber

I'm sorry but it can't be a coincidence that all of the offending kids were black and all of the kids doing things the right way were white.

Why So Blu?

If you don't think it's racist then you're probably blind and don't think that white privilege is a thing.

It's as clear as day. That poster indicates that the black kids are troublemakers and that the white kids are angels.

DRG

Then it would be playing into the stereotype that black people can't swim.

dvduser6

This should be redone with the characters from Caddyshack. Problem solved!

Timber

You did see the drowning kid right?

Mabuse

This reads like sarcasm.

The kid with a glass bottle is white and labeled "Not Cool." Also, one of the lifeguards is black.

But yes the poster is a fail and whoever created it either wanted trouble or wanted to throw the Red Cross under the bus.

Lord Zarak

I'm more offended that the poster is sexist against men. Five to one, the offenders are male. That's painting men in a negative light. I demand justice!

Why So Blu?

I didn't even notice the white kid with the bottle. It's still a racist poster. What, no BBQ at the pool either?

Mabuse

Also, we are already discussing this in the political forum.

Lord Zarak

You mean that dark shadowy place beyond the northern border?

Jaymole

4 of the 5 NOT COOL incidents involve Blacks.

This is why KKK swimming events are the safest

Mabuse

Well wadda ya want? I guess they're not cool.

I heard that whites are always appropriating black "coolness" so I'm glad that for once we get to see some black youths who are not cool.

General Zod

No Mexican kids? No militant Islamists? No Hasidic Jews? This is racist after all and obviously not representative of America. I demand the Red Cross be abandoned and I be paid something.

Timber

Mexican drinking a 40 walking around the pool.

And upon closer inspection that looks like a little Chinese boy chasing the black boy.

Why So Blu?

Mexican kids can swim, too. How do you think we swam over here to begin with? Exactly.

EddieMoney

Triggered. OMG, where's my safe space??

Mabuse

Germany has already got signs for the Muslims