Red Cross Bolsters Role of Minorities
Gulf Coast Storms Exposed Sensitivity, Translation Gaps
By Jacqueline L. Salmon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 5, 2005; Page A01
The American Red Cross has launched an aggressive effort to reach out to racial and ethnic minorities and add more of them to the charity's vast network of volunteers, in response to criticism that it treated them callously during the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.
More than two months after Katrina and Hurricane Rita ripped through the Gulf Coast and caused tens of thousands of people to flee their homes for Red Cross shelters, the organization is dealing with complaints that it failed to provide enough translators and overlooked cultural sensitivities. The concerns have been raised by members of Congress and groups representing blacks, Hispanics, Asians and Native Americans.
In large Red Cross shelters, where most volunteers were white, the mostly minority evacuees "felt like they were being herded like cattle," said Rev. Anthony Evans of the National Black Church Initiative.
Red Cross leaders say most problems were issues of perception and not cultural insensitivity -- and certainly not racism. The organization was inundated by the magnitude of the storms and the issues presented by the large number of racial and ethnic groups affected, officials said....
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In recent weeks, the organization has begun various initiatives to increase the diversity of the staff at its headquarters and 800 chapters and draw more minority volunteers. Its faith-based initiative is designed to recruit and train volunteers in religious organizations -- particularly churches with high concentrations of blacks, Hispanics and Asians, officials said....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/04/AR2005120400886.html