Why Bad Bunny's Super Bowl Halftime Show Was Epic

Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime performance was an important moment in acknowledging that Latinos and Latinidad has been part of this country and continent's experience from days immemorial.

Jonathan Higuera, Editor-in-Chief, ImpactoAZ.com, host, ImpactoAZ podcast

I wanted to put down my thoughts on the Bad Bunny halftime performance before I opened a single story from any other scribe, critic or talking head.

In the moment, I can say I felt more validated as a Latino in this great country. Watching his embrace of his beloved Puerto Rico and its culture was an epic moment for me as a Latino and as a Mexican American. I shouldn’t need that type of validation as someone whose family has been part of the Southwest before it became part of the U.S. but there it is.

If there’s one thing I’ve been desirous of when it comes to the good ole USA, is a mere acceptance and acknowledgement that Latinos, and in my in particular case, Mexican-Americans, have been a part of the fabric of this country and these lands even before a single pen was picked up to write the first draft of the Declaration of Independence or Bill of Rights.

To be sure, I love those documents and all they stand for. But at times, the United States of America, or as some have referred to it, the United States of Amnesia, has been a suffocating mess of ego and short-term memory that acts as if my people had nothing to do with the successes of this great experiment we call America. It’s a zero sum game for those with that mindset.

And nothing can be further from the truth!

Our ancestors worked the fields, mined the copper, picked the crops, built the houses and railroads, and did all the essential work needed to keep our country and economy in good stead. They still do. Yet instead of a grateful nod of acknowledgement for those contributions, we’ve been demonized and stereotyped as takers not givers, murderers and rapists, not the stalwart, hardworking people we are. In truth, we’ve probably enabled dreams for others more so than for themselves with our labor and love of family and community.

You might be saying, ‘What does all this have to do with Bad Bunny’s performance?’ And I’d have to admit that I don’t own any Bad Bunny records or know much about his lyrics and songs. But if that’s what young people are embracing around the globe, I want to know more about this phenomenon. And I think many of my fellow U.S. citizens are curious, too.

And as I have learned more about him and his songs, I recognize that he’s instilled pride in people for their roots and spoken truth to power, such as his song “El Apagón,” which deals with the trauma inflicted on island residents by Hurricane María and the lack of effective governmental response to ease the people’s burdens. A performer with that type of social conscious is someone I’d like my son to be listening to.

So while the haters and critics will respond as they will, I choose to recognize that this country has wide enough shoulders to understand there is a broader narrative about what makes America great. And the Puerto Rican contributions and diaspora is a great story to tell in that regard.

So I salute the NFL and Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio for opening the space to tell that story, if only for a brief 13-minute performance.