A love letter to culture, joy, and being seen
Why I'm literally still crying over Bad Bunny’s Halftime Show.
All day, I’ve been re-watching clips and reading people’s posts and reactions about Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime performance. Every third post, my eyes well up with tears. There’s something about a celebration of culture, embodied with such pride and joy, that completely undoes me.
I think that living in the current political climate that we’re living in has made many of us, especially those of us in the Latin American community, feel shame or fear or helplessness, as the country becomes more divisive.
What Benito showed us — loudly, proudly, and on one of the U.S.’ biggest stages — is that resistance doesn’t need to feel volatile.
You don’t need to pour negative energy out into the world to make a point.
But you also don’t need to tone down or censor your voice (or your language, or your culture) to take a stand.
The revolution can feel joyful and filled with laughter, colors, music, and dancing.
Celebration is a form of resistance in its own.
Benito didn’t code-switch.
He didn’t translate.
He showed up, as he was, in his power.
I think especially during a time like this, when many of the Latinx diaspora in the US are being targeted, Bad Bunny’s performance felt like a ray of hope. He showed us in 13 short minutes that culture is meant to be celebrated and that voice has the power to evoke change.
Yesterday felt like a portal into a new world. A glimpse of shining light at the end of a very dark tunnel.
A world where oppressed and underrepresented voices can take center stage and celebrate their uniqueness in its full beauty.
A world where voices matter. All voices. From all walks of life.
A world where the only thing stronger than hate is love.
As a half-Latina myself (my father is Puerto Rican from New York), it felt monumental.
But this isn’t a movement made in a silo. We each have a part to play. And yes, we are stronger together.
Last night was an uplifting call to arms.
A call to come out of hiding.
A call to be proud, to use your voice, to celebrate culture, to honor who you are. Fully, loudly, authentically.
Because joy and art and love and celebration and dancing and music and laughter are resistance, too.
