Drugs, Ethnic Profiling, and the American Perception of Colombian Immigrants, 1979-1990

Authors

Laurisa Sastoque, Northwestern University

Abstract

This paper analyzes how the media’s portrayal of Colombian drug trafficking turned into a stigma that affected the Colombian community in the United States. By reviewing periodical sources between the years 1979-1990, this paper argues that the formation of the drug trafficking stigma stems from the media's almost exclusive portrayal of Colombians as drug traffickers, within a context of U.S.-Colombia relations that encompassed tensions regarding responsibility for the growing transnational drug problem. Ultimately, this study proves that the drug trafficking stigma for Colombian immigrants is inherently tied to how American society viewed the Colombian government’s actions in the war on Drugs

First Page

131

Last Page

156

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Sastoque, Laurisa (2022) "Drugs, Ethnic Profiling, and the American Perception of Colombian Immigrants, 1979-1990," Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History: Vol. 12: Iss. 1, Article 8.
DOI: 10.20429/aujh.2022.120108
Available at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/aujh/vol12/iss1/8