A tale of two posters

Anti-racism campaign aims at stereotypes about Latin Americans

By Alison Blackduck
Toronto Star Staff Reporter

An anti-racism awareness campaign has been launched in response to a controversial poster put out by the Toronto Police Association last year.

The newly formed Latin American Coalition Against Racism launched its ``Racism is a Crime'' campaign at the Yonge and Bloor subway station yesterday.

Organizers say it's a direct response to a poster distributed by the police association during last year's provincial election, depicting Latin American youths as members of a gang with the caption ``There's only one thing that these guys fear - your vote.''

The anti-racism coalition was formed last June after a public outcry prompted the TTC to remove the police association posters.

Coalition member Carolina Berinstein said the group has about 20 active volunteers but worked closely with the Latin American community and the TTC to produce the anti-racism poster.

Berinstein said the TTC donated$4,000 to produce the poster and the Latin American community matched that amount.

The poster reads: ``It's time to speak up against those who want you to believe that people of colour and immigrants are criminals. It's time you question your stereotypes about Latin American peoples.''

The police association has not apologized to Toronto's 61,000-member Latin American community for its poster, organizers say.

Police association president Craig Bromell said he has no plans to apologize, especially since the poster was cleared by the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

``We did nothing wrong,'' Bromell said.

York University student Clelia Rodriguez, 24, attended the launch to show her support for the committee's new campaign.

She said she is still angry the police association misrepresented young Latin Americans like her to make a political point.

``I saw the poster on my way home from work and I was so mad, as soon as I saw it I thought, `I work day and night to support myself and I've paid taxes since I came here, and for what?' '' said Rodriguez, who moved to Canada with her family from El Salvador in 1990.

``When I was in high school, my friends were stopped three times by police just because we were hanging out on the street like normal teenagers,'' she said.

``I expect that type of behaviour from police in El Salvador, but not in Canada.''

Magaly San Martin, 39, is a member of the group and an anti-poverty activist.

She was among the 18 people arrested during last month's riot in Queen's Park.

She made headlines last month after justice of the peace Robert Lewin told the Chilean-born Canadian and Ph.D. student that ``maybe rioting in Chile is the way to express oneself, but it's not the way to express oneself in this country.''

She said Lewin's comments illustrate why the committee's anti-racism campaign is necessary.

San Martin also said she and the group are now lobbying the Ontario attorney-general and the Justice of the Peace Review Committee to have Lewin dismissed.

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