Video Presents Latinos As 'Dealers' And 'Killers,' Then Takes A Surprising Turn

This campaign wants everyone to #TurnIgnoranceAround.

"I'm a killer."

"I'm a dealer."

"I'm a trafficker."

That's how several Latinos present themselves in a new video while wearing shirts with the same three words emblazoned on the front. But once they turn around, the back of their shirts reveal the truth behind these racist stereotypes:

"A KILLER of fires. I’m a fireman and I’m Latino."

"I’m a DEALER of justice. I’m an attorney and I’m Latina."

The dual-sided shirts and video are part of the "Turn Ignorance Around" campaign, which was created pro bono by marketing agency Walton Isaacson in partnership with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) Action Fund in response to presidential candidates' xenophobic rhetoric.

In an email to The Huffington Post, Walton Isaacson's group creative director Martin Cerri said the campaign will culminate at a live event in Downtown Los Angeles on May 1, which is International Workers' Day and a date in which immigrant workers often march for rights.

At the event an artist will be available to customize T-shirts to individuals' occupations, said Cerri, so that they can show the "reality of this hard-working and vibrant community."

But the agency's chief Hispanic marketing strategist, Rochelle Newman Carrasco, says despite their initial focus on both Latino immigrants and U.S. born Latinos, the campaign has been well received by people of all backgrounds and does in fact extend beyond the Latino community.

"How can you argue with Turning Ignorance Around? That's part of the strength of the simplicity and clarity of the message," Carrasco told HuffPost via e-mail. "You can hold personal views about many things, but at the end of the day the vast majority of Americans, regardless of their backgrounds really think about the message -- if ignorance is allowed to misjudge one group of families, children, professionals, then it's not a far leap to understand that your own family can come under attack as well. So it's something most everyone can get behind."

Watch the full "Turn Ignorance Around" video below:

Before You Go

John Leguizamo On The Antidote To 'Hollywouldn't' Stereotypes

16 Times Latinos Were Brutally Honest About Hollywood’s Lack Of Diversity

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