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Milwaukee Red Cross policy spurs discrimination allegations

By: Associated Press//January 3, 2018//

Milwaukee Red Cross policy spurs discrimination allegations

By: Associated Press//January 3, 2018//

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Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett speaks to reporters outside his office about the Red Cross asking fire victims in some parts of the city to come to them or a nearby police station on Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018, in Milwaukee. The Red Cross Milwaukee chapter said the policy change is to address a volunteer shortage, but the move has sparked outrage because the areas affected are low-income and predominantly black and Latino. (AP Photo/Ivan Moreno)
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett speaks to reporters outside his office on Tuesday about the Red Cross asking fire victims in some parts of the city to come to them or a nearby police station. The Red Cross Milwaukee chapter said the policy change is to address a volunteer shortage, but the move has sparked outrage because the areas affected are low-income and predominantly black and Latino. (AP Photo/Ivan Moreno)

By IVAN MORENO
Associated Press

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The American Red Cross of Wisconsin is facing accusations of racism and favoritism for the wealthy because of a new policy in Milwaukee that forces predominantly black and Latino fire victims from low-income areas to travel to receive the organization’s volunteer assistance.

The decision to have fire victims go to their nearest police station or Red Cross office rather than for volunteers to visit them at home is the result of a staff shortage, according to the organization’s Milwaukee chapter. Officials there said the chapter plans to have the policy eventually apply throughout the city, but have provided no timeframe for that change to happen.

Elected officials criticized the rollout in late December.

“The optics of it is classic red-lining. It’s not simply a race issue. I would say it’s a class issue,” said Alderman Khalif J. Rainey, who represents one of the ZIP codes affected by the new policy.

The group’s national headquarters issued a statement on Tuesday apologizing for “any misunderstanding as it was absolutely not our intent to offend anyone.”

The agency said it wants to use the volunteers it has more efficiently and have them meet victims in a warm and safe place. The Milwaukee chapter deemed  the new policy a temporary remedy but did not say how long it would take to recruit more volunteers and restore previous service.

The Red Cross provides fire victims a place to sleep, food and water, health services including mental-health care, and help filling out prescriptions among other things.

“The Red Cross will continue to help any person in need after a home fire, regardless of their ZIP code,” the statement said.

It was not clear Tuesday if the policy has been adopted elsewhere in the country.

More affluent and largely white areas downtown and along the city’s lake shore were not part of the initial rollout.

“When people looked at the map as to the areas that were not being served, I think that raised questions,” Mayor Tom Barrett said on Tuesday after meeting with the Red Cross regional chief executive, Patty Flowers.

The Milwaukee chapter has said the initial 10 ZIP codes it chose were simply the busiest. They ranged from the majority black north side of the city and southern neighborhoods largely populated by Latinos. In one ZIP code, on the north side, 53206, nearly half of the residents live below the poverty level.

Some of the ZIP codes first selected also have some of the highest crime rates in the city, leading various aldermen to speculate that the Red Cross may also be concerned about volunteer safety. Flowers said safety is always a priority but that it wasn’t the impetus behind the policy change.

“I just don’t have enough volunteers,” Flowers said. She said the number fluctuates and could not immediately say how steep the recent decline has been. There are only about 365 volunteers in Southeast Wisconsin, she said.

Barrett said he and Flowers spoke about race, although “not necessarily racism,” and “the need to make sure that low-income people who are the victims of fires, that they also receive the same treatment that others receive.” He said they’re looking at the situation as an opportunity to recruit more volunteers.

Alderman Robert Donovan, who represents a majority Latino district in the southern part of the city, said there’s no substitute for having “someone there on site when you need them the most.”

“But I can certainly understand the position they’re in if indeed it’s come down to just fewer and fewer volunteers,” he said.

Donovan said he and other aldermen have asked Red Cross representatives to speak with them Friday morning in City Hall to hear more about their new policy.

“I think it had probably more to do with safety concerns on the part of volunteers,” he said, despite Flowers’ comments. “It’s difficult, when you’re dealing with volunteers, you can only ask so much of them.”

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