NYC campaign aims to subvert anti-immigrant rhetoric

Zoom in: The "New York Proud" campaign launched by the New York Immigration Coalition on Aug. 30 consists of the portraits of 36 immigrants, half of whom are of Latin American origins

• The campaign posters also bear the words: "This country. This culture. It is built on immigrants. From its inception until today."
• Venezuelan photographer Oscar B. Castillo took the portraits, largely in the subjects' workplaces, including beauty salons, restaurants, libraries and schools.
• Among those featured are Bruneth Flores, an asylum seeker from El Salvador who works as an event planner; Brazilian-Venezuelan filmmaker Cecilia Delgado, and Mirtha Colón, a social worker and activist originally from Honduras who runs an organization to promote the wellbeing of Black Central Americans.

State of play: The portraits are being displayed at 200 subway stations, with pop-up "larger than life" exhibitions in Times Square (until Saturday), downtown Brooklyn and Queens.

What they're saying: "We know that there is so much more that unites us than divides us, though there are those who want to continue to divide us," says Murad Awawdeh, the president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, that put the campaign together.

• The goal is to make it more plainly visible to people living and visiting the major metropolis "how immigrants have contributed and continue to power our cities and economies. They are New York and they are this country," he adds.
• Awadeh says the coalition hopes to take the campaign all through the state of New York and even to other major cities.

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