Abstract
In this project, I explore how the US media represents the situation regarding MS-13 in El Salvador and within its own borders. I give a broad overview of Salvadoran history to re-contextualize the narratives shared by Salvadoran media and its government. Through a historical context, I revisit the blame placed on Salvadoran youth for the country's destabilization. I then explore similarities between US media’s portrayal of MS-13 and Salvadoran life to define common patterns of language and opinion. Ultimately, I argue that a disregard of anti-blackness in El Salvador’s history continues in contemporary portrayals of MS-13, misidentifying the factors that have created the country’s current crisis. A war on gangs can be defined as a replication of conflicts between past capitalist regimes and the larger public. Past policies and the motives of oppositional groups are able to trace El Salvador blatant Anti-Black and Anti-indigenous history. There is a loss of history and identity that makes it far more difficult to develop an understanding of gangs and their opposition to the government.