The good in Bad Bunny’s halftime performance
Solidarity Hour webinar unwraps some of the history and symbolism behind a memorable moment in Puerto Rican cultural history
LOUISVILLE — Tuesday’s edition of the Solidarity Hour turned its attention mainly to Bad Bunny’s halftime performance during Sunday’s Super Bowl LX.
Those tuned in to the webinar, offered by the Global Solidarity Collective, an initiative of the Presbyterian Hunger Program, shared their insights and answered questions posed by Eileen Schuhmann, PHP’s Associate for Global Engagement and Resources.
In recent installments, Solidarity Hour has explored the Doctrine of Discovery — not so much to focus on its history, but as a way of understanding the present. “This gathering reminds us colonization is not just an event, but a worldview,” Schuhmann said.
The Doctrine of Discovery, which dates back to the 15th century, set patterns of oppression that have continued to the present. In 2005, it was a factor cited in a U.S. Supreme Court opinion in City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York, written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The 224th General Assembly (2020) directed church agencies to “turn away and walk in the other direction” of the Doctrine of Discovery during the decade that ends in 2030.
The imagery that framed Bad Bunny’s halftime performance were heavily symbolic, Schuhmann noted: the sugar cane fields, the light blue Puerto Rican flag, the downed powerlines, people playing dominos, street parties, a real-life wedding, and Bad Bunny proclaiming that all the Americas are blessed by God and claiming that the only thing more powerful than hate is love.
Schuhmann asked: How does Bad Bunny’s use of symbols reflect the long-term effects of colonialism and economic exploitation?
“We watched it as a family,” one participant said. Not understanding the significance of the power lines [a reference to severe infrastructure challenges following Hurricane Maria in September 2017], the family researched the history. “That was and continues to be humbling to me,” this participant said. “How much do we forget because of our own privilege?”
In the post-Super Bowl interviews Schuhmann watched, “Puerto Rican panelists got it immediately because it’s a lived experience,” she said. “These were symbols of colonization, and the failure to deliver infrastructure.”
Cindy Corell, a global ecumenical liaison who served in Haiti for many years, said she saw halftime imagery of harvesters chipping away at sugar cane, “and it took me straight back to the Caribbean.”
“We love sugar and we have it on our breakfast table,” Corell said. What we may not fully understand is “the pain and the damage it brought” to those who harvested it, including enslaved people who were brought to the Caribbean.
“It is the commodity that made Hispaniola the wealthiest island in the Caribbean,” she said. “It is a symbol of sweetness, greed, pain and modern-day slavery. It was powerful,” Corell said of Bad Bunny’s imagery.
Next, Schuhmann asked: How does expanding the idea of America beyond the United States challenge our assumptions about identity and belonging, in the church and in society? How does this performance invite us to reimagine these assumptions?
“With the U.S. doubling down on the Monroe Doctrine, it’s important to see America as much more than the United States. It’s two continents put together,” said the Rev. Jed Koball, a global ecumenical liaison based in Peru. Koball said he loved the performance, “but I did wrestle with it a little.”
Hearing Bad Bunny’s performance in Spanish “was awesome, but it also reminded me that languages have been erased, including indigenous languages,” Koball said. “The work of decolonizing is deep and wide. We can work on it, and yet it still feels colonial. I loved [the performance], but for me it brought some question to the surface.”
One participant joining from the Silicon Valley, where the game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots was played, said that “when I saw this young man’s performance, I was amazed.”
“I have been to Puerto Rico twice, and I fell in love with the island,” she said, adding that her work includes “promoting indigenous arts and culture.”
Schuhmann asked a third question: Bad Bunny’s performance centered joy and cultural pride while also carrying political weight. How can joy and cultural celebration serve as forms of resistance, and how do they push back against the legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery and systems of exclusion?
“We’ve always had artists willing to take the risk to use their platform,” said the Rev. Carlton Johnson, the PC(USA)’s director of Global Ecumenical Partnerships. “Brother Benito [a reference to Bad Bunny’s first name] came to the stage with that, saying, ‘I am who I am.’ His joy and love are resistance, and joy is in the middle of that resistance.”
One participant linked the continuing impacts of the Doctrine of Discovery to what’s going on in Palestine-Israel. “It’s the same story,” this participant said. “Europeans thought it was fine to take land from indigenous Palestinians and treat them as non-human.” The participant recommended that others see the film “All That’s Left of You,” which “tells this story beautifully.”
Another person on the call noted how group singing in Minneapolis and in other impacted communities can help bolster resistance. “I think arts are a good way to protest,” this person said, including the use of humor expressed on protest signs as a helpful strategy. “It’s saying things in new ways that people can hear and see,” the participant said.
On cue, Schuhmann used Doe Hoyer’s “Calling” to close the webinar. Hoyer is a staff member of the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery.
“It’s hard to demonize a group of people singing in the streets,” Schuhmann said.
Watch previous editions of the Solidarity Hour here.
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