“The Kids Are All-(W)ite”: A Discussion of Drug Prohibition and Criminalization Policies in British North America as a Tool of White Supremacy

This research paper was submitted during my undergraduate degree, for HIST 122: Race & Ethnicity in Global History, 1776-Present. 

The assignment also required a visual component that reflected the overall theme of the research paper. 

I chose to 'modernize' anti-drug propaganda posters in North America, editting them to more accurately reflect the racial biases behind the criminalization laws of cocaine and marijuana.

The presentation medium I chose was a TikTok video, and it begins by showing the audience the original poster. The screen then displays a variety of quotes from politicians and other influential voices in drug criminalization. These quotes are reflections of the way non-white peoples were viewed. The final image for each that appears is a recreation of the original poster, this time with the words and images altered to reflect the ways in which drug use was used to incite fear against Chinese, Mexican, and Black bodies.