One of my favorite activities when I was a little girl was to dance in the kitchen with my mom. My mom is Mexican, so naturally, we would sing Latin music at the top of our lungs. I always felt the music in my heart and soul. Latin music is filled with a liveliness like no other, and it has a way of bringing people of different heritages together through its loving nature. When I found out that Bad Bunny (Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio) would perform at the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show, I was ecstatic. I was not just excited to hear his hit songs, but also for the culture that would come with his performance — a culture our nation desperately needs to celebrate at the moment.
His 14-minute-long performance blew me away. It encapsulated joy, community, equality, love and a proud nod towards Ocasio’s homeland, Puerto Rico. I was left with a sense of awe and pride in my own Mexican heritage. I was also left with a sense of hope that our generation has the power to redefine America’s future so that there is space for everyone to exist, especially within Latin American communities
But then a larger question hit me: if performers such as Ocasio are using their platforms to deliver such a powerful cultural and political message, who is he speaking to? What does this say about the cultural climate of America right now?
The Power of Community
Ocasio didn’t start with fireworks or a solo that showed off his vocal talent. Instead, he chose to proudly strut through the sugar cane fields of his homeland, passing by jíbaros (farmers), dancing with children, and buying street food from vendors while spinning past a table of abuelos playing dominoes. This intentional choice to highlight the roots of his homeland displayed his core values of community and cultural pride. It also highlighted the sad reality that our nation has lost a shared sense of community and love between diverse cultures.
Recently, the United States government passed legislation providing significant funding to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This funding has led to the arrest of both documented and undocumented individuals, many of whom were innocent like Renee Good and Alex Pretti were.
ICE officers have separated families and communities. Innocent children are scared to go to school because of the color of their skin. Civilians are getting killed while driving to work. There is a sense of fear among people who do not fit the traditional American stereotype. Ocasio’s inclusion of his own community and cultural roots reminded me that we all come from somewhere. The United States itself is full of cultures from every region of the world, and there’s a unique beauty in recognizing this diversity within cultures across the nation.
As someone who grew up in a family with two Mexican immigrant grandparents, Ocasio’s inclusion of farmworkers deeply resonated with me because they were fieldworkers themselves in Southern California. I always saw my grandparents as hardworking individuals who were trying to build a better life for their children, all while doing backbreaking work. Within our current political climate, these workers are underappreciated, overlooked, and simply not being welcomed in this country. All I knew growing up was my grandma, who taught me how to make the best flour tortillas in the world, not an immigrant who should be deported back to Mexico.
Ocasio’s opening represented a deliberate act of humanization and resistance, framing Latin Americans as community members deserving of equality, rather than political problems. This mirrors our nation’s current climate of fear and dehumanization. Ocasio is asking what we define as acceptable within humanity. He proved that we have the power to make a change, and this change begins with coming together and celebrating diverse cultural roots.
Patriotism Can Look Multilingual
Ocasio sang in Spanish on a predominantly white, nationwide stage. He didn’t translate his words or switch to English to accommodate an audience that did not understand him. He was simply singing his songs, in his language, celebrating his culture. Donald Trump did not like this. Trump’s Truth Social post was very clear: “Nobody understands a word this guy is saying, and the dancing is disgusting, especially for young children that are watching from throughout the U.S.A, and all over the World.”
According to Pew Research Center “[t]he U.S. Hispanic population reached 62.1 million in 2020, accounting for 19% of all Americans and making it the nation’s second largest racial or ethnic group…” This number has only skyrocketed since 2020. This also means that the Spanish language is the second predominately spoken in the U.S.. So what does it mean to live in a nation where our own political leader has no shame in making explicit, hateful commentary towards one of the largest demographics within America? Trump’s refusal to accept that a halftime show could be sung in another language illustrates his discontentment with an expansive and diverse nation where all languages can be celebrated. Trump has expressed, time and time again, that he believes this nation has no space for diversity to exist. Ocasio’s show was a pushback to this narrative that the United States flag has no room for inclusivity, especially because our leaders blatantly exclude the people who make up so much of our nation. Ocasio redefined what conservative America thinks patriotism looks like.
Love, Cultural Dignity, and Belonging
Ocasio ended his performance with a bang as he power-walked through the sugar cane fields in front of a billboard titled, “The Only Thing More Powerful Than Hate Is Love.” After noting multiple Latin American countries, as well as the U.S. and Canada, he ended by saying “seguimos aqui,” which translates to, “we’re still here.” The flags weren’t about separation, they weren’t ranked, and they weren’t competing with one another. This was a visual representation of what is incredibly scarce in America right now: unity.
Ocasio felt the need to say, “we’re still here,” which reflects a political climate that made his statement necessary on a nationwide stage. The billboard behind him displays how we’re living in a world where love is in a competition with hate. Ocasio used his platform to give a message that expands beyond politics and into a much larger issue: what we have lost as humanity. This powerful message also sparked hope for what we can gain back. Through his music, we can see that there is space for everyone, and being American does not have to mean excluding people from other cultures.
I think back to my own life of growing up with my mom dancing in the kitchen and making tortillas with my grandma. When I drive to school, I look at the fields of workers picking crops, and always think about my own cultural roots. It makes me wonder why our leaders dishonor those who are the backbone of our country. Ocasio’s performance transcended politics. He allowed us to reimagine what the future of America can look like through love, cultural dignity and belonging being the most radical act of all.