Hector Tobar, UCI Associate Professor of English and Chicano/Latino Studies writes, “The cartel operative — be he a kingpin or a hit man or a small-time drug dealer — has become the dominant image of Latino people in American television and cinema. The dialogue and imagery of cartel movies associates Latino identity with inherent, pure evil again and again. It’s time for Hollywood to ask: What message are we sending to the American public by asking this country’s Latino actors to act out one execution-style killing after another?

For the full story, please visit https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/05/opinion/sunday/latinos-cartels-trump-narcos-hollywood.html.