This Pool Safety Poster May Be the Most Racist Thing Ever
Not everything is racist.
Despite the uproar in some circles of the Internet, for example, this Khloe Kardashian magazine cover is not racist.
But the following pool safety poster? The one that aims to instruct children on how they should and should not behave around the water?
This thing is racist AF.
A woman named Margaret Sawyer first noticed it at a pool in Salida, Colorado, thinking for a moment that it must have been some sort of artifact.
It must have been created back in the 1950s or 1960s, right?
Nope.
“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,’” she told a local NBC affiliate, KUSA.
Take a close look at the poster above (or even a passing glance, really) and it’s easy to see the problem her.
Titled “Be Cool, Follow The Rules,” the poster features men, women, boys and girls of different colors. Some are black, others are white.
But, with the exception of one fake person, every single individual labeled “Not Cool” is black; and each one label “Cool” is white.
Seriously!
Sawyer says complained to a lifeguard at the facility and then wrote a letter to management asking for the poster’s removal, according to KUSA.
The network has since looked into it and learned that the poster was from a safe-swimming campaign in 2014.
The American Red Cross has since issued an apology, once the image went viral.
The American Red Cross appreciates and is sensitive to the concerns raised regarding one of the water safety posters we produced, it reads.
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.
To this end, we have removed the poster from our website and Swim App and have discontinued production. We have notified all of our partner aquatic facilities requesting they take down the poster.
Our organization has emphasized to our partners and on social media that it was absolutely not our intent to offend anyone and apologized for this inadvertent action.
We are currently in the process of completing a formal agreement with a diversity advocacy organization for their guidance moving forward.
This Pool Safety Poster May Be the Most Racist Thing Ever
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