Southern Poverty Law Center
"Immigrant Songs"
Racial profiling. Unlawful arrests and incarcerations. Children separated from their families. Every day, legal immigrants living in isolated communities along the U.S. Southern border suffer civil rights violations that infringe the law. One of the best ways to help is to empower them with knowledge about their rights. The only way to reach them is through the only media consumed by 90% of immigrants living in isolated communities – radio. We brought together lawyers and musicians to translate complex immigration laws into corridos - a popular musical genre.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), together with the Latin Grammy-winning band Flor De Toloache, released a song that aims to help prevent human rights abuses by conveying important information about the rights immigrants can exercise when interacting with law enforcement and immigration authorities.
The single, El Corrido de David y Goliat, out now on Chulo Records, is the first release of the Immigrant Songs Initiative. It is available on all digital streaming platforms and for sale on iTunes and streaming on Spotify.
The song is a corrido, a popular narrative music genre about oppression, the daily life of peasants and other socially relevant topics. Many corrido stories relate to the lives of people living near the border, who deal with fear and abuse on an everyday basis. One of the goals of the project is to reach people who may not have access to modern media where legal information is commonly dispersed – which is why the song is being played on broadcast radio, with distribution tailored to specifically focus on regions with high immigrant populations.
The effort includes a video to share the broader message of the Immigrant Songs Project. It provides further understanding of the legal abuse suffered by many immigrants and refugees across the border. The concept was developed with creative support from WING – the multicultural unit of Grey.
CREATIVE AGENCY: Wing / Grey
ADVERTISER: Southern Poverty Law Center
TITLE: El Corrido de David y Goliat
FIRST AIR DATE: 2/22
CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER: Pepe Aguilar
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Bernardo Rodriguez
COPYWRITER: Christopher Baugh
SVP ACCOUNT DIRECTOR: Ernesto James