What Bad Bunny's Super Bowl Halftime Performance Means for Americans

By Dannicka Sorensen

With the upcoming Super Bowl, many have been outraged by Bad Bunny’s being featured as the performer for the half-time show. Of the multitude of reasons why people are outraged, the complaint I’d like to address is the common lament that “he doesn’t even sing in English.”

To that, I say: good.

Why? Because I think a different language will be eye-opening for Americans.

With the controversies surrounding ICE, the president’s massive changes to foreign policy, and the seeming reawakening of the Monroe Doctrine, to say that politics was not a factor for the choice of Bad Bunny would be ignorant. The Super Bowl has been a stage for political agendas in the past as well. For example, Kendrick Lamar’s politically heated performance last year served as a prime example. (You can read more in staff writer Uma Cormier-Marri's article.)

I think we’re on track for greater unity with the rest of the continent. I see Spanish being an essential language that next generations will be taught in school, along with English. Almost every other country teaches children an additional language in primary school, so why not us?

English being an international language is a fact that many of us know, but many do not understand. For us, it is often not necessary to learn another language. We already were born into knowing a highly beneficial language. We won’t have to worry about our career or traveling abroad. If we need to leave the country, it’s okay because usually someone, somewhere, knows English.

Immigrants from non-English speaking countries often do not have that privilege in America. They frequently have to rely on whatever foundation of English they have. They can’t just switch to their native language when their English fails them.

For the many of you who are distraught over not being able to understand the performance, I am glad that you are. The twenty to thirty minutes you must be confused is only a taste of the reality that many immigrants in America face today.

More and more, students, specifically those from Latin America, are put into English-speaking schools with little knowledge of English. It doesn’t help that a lot of times the only person at the school who “knows” Spanish is the Spanish teacher, with the thickest gringo accent, who did a semester abroad twenty years ago and hasn’t used it since.

These kids face culture shock in their new environment. With the countries these kids are coming from, and the economic position most are in, they often do not have the means or resources to learn English like we have the resources to learn Spanish.

To help us with translation, we have classes at school, access to public libraries, phones with millions of resources, and the list goes on. I believe it is our responsibility to adapt to our new New World.

Let your frustration with Bad Bunny inspire you to turn over a new leaf and grow a new opportunity for learning.