Let the world dance…together

Like many people from Kansas City, I had no stake in Super Bowl LX whatsoever. What I was far more interested in was the halftime show performance from Bad Bunny, or Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, one of the most culturally relevant artists this year. After all, not many artists can win three Grammys and then perform a Super Bowl halftime show back-to-back in the span of almost a week. 

But it wasn’t just his awards that were impressive. Nor his music, which often pays homage to Puerto Rico and has deep roots within reggaeton and Latin rap (sidebar, go listen to his music if you haven’t. And if you have, go listen to it again). Nor his performance as Oscar in Happy Gilmore 2, which made me laugh so hard my face hurt. The biggest things that stuck out to me during his performance were the very things that many of us, especially currently, seem to have forgotten. Community. Cultural diversity. Connection. Love. 

I feel like I need to preface this opinion by stating the obvious: I’m white. Very white. I’m Irish on BOTH sides of my family, that’s how white I am. So I won’t pretend like the performance was about or for me. This is just my thoughts on how I feel we, as a campus, can take a page from Benito’s book and lead with kindness, openness, and understanding going forward. 

Since the beginning of my time here at Truman State University, I’ve felt that the people on this campus do a fairly good job of fostering an open sense of diversity, no matter how you, as a human, diverge from “the norm.” What they may often lack in size, Truman’s diversity, inclusion, and international student programs more than make up for that in community and connection. Speaking from a bit of experience, it’s incredibly fun to simply be around other communities, especially during mass celebrations and get-togethers. Whether on or off campus, whether celebrating a massive holiday or eating at a cookout with family, the feeling remains the same. The amount of passion and love that binds these communities together is incredibly surreal. I’ve seen it. I’ve felt it. And there’s really nothing else like it. 

But I also know that plenty of us, especially those of us who are international, have international roots or are close to a person who identifies with either of the prior, are afraid right now. Though many of us would like to think that we’re far away from a lot of political conflict, the fact is that we are still a liberal arts institution located in rural Missouri. So the looming possibility of ICE is still something that remains in the minds of many, whether we want it to or not. And it’s not a matter of “if you’re a citizen, you have nothing to worry about.” That’s been disproven time and time again over the last few months. One of my closest friends is Hispanic, born and raised in the USA, just like their parents. And yet, both of us fear the possibility of ICE. To the point where we nearly panicked at the Facebook photo a Kirksville resident edited to make it seem like ICE was in Kirksville. To the point where we’ve had multiple conversations about what we’d do should the day ever come that ICE knocks on the door. It’s utterly terrifying, and I can only imagine the pain and fear that many of our own students no doubt feel right now, regardless of your stance on immigration. 

Which is why Benito’s performance is SO incredibly vital right now. His expression of love was not just toward Puerto Rico and immigrants, but to the entirety of America. A great deal of detail went into illustrating real events, places, and people that have influenced both him and his style of music. The diversity of the background dancers was one of the biggest things that struck me the most: it felt less like a clique troupe of similarly-dressed people and more like the type of people you’d find in a club dancing on a Saturday night, adding to the sense of connectedness that Benito’s performance was all about. The real wedding that took place during the performance, the inclusion of some of the biggest Latin American and Hispanic celebrities as part of the dancing, the cameos from Lady GaGa and Ricky Martin, and Benito’s speech at the end that included EVERY country in both American continents, all sent one of the biggest messages to the world. That the world will not be fixed through divisiveness, but through togetherness. We are all one America. 

 Benito could have taken the opportunity to turn one of the world’s biggest stages into an even bigger political message, preaching hate toward the people who have done him wrong. Instead, his performance radiated with the very thing he spoke about in his Grammy’s acceptance speech: the love of community and culture winning the battle over hate. It was a soothing balm for the soul, filled with the only real remedies to fear: connection and love. 

This, I feel, is the biggest takeaway from the performance itself, and the biggest thing that Truman students and staff need to remember right now. We are communities within a community, unified by a drive to learn and a love for the people who support us. I don’t want the last four months of my time at Truman to be filled with anxiety and hatred. I want those memories to be full of friendship, support, and fun. And I want them for you, too. So in the spirit of the month of love, let’s all try to be kinder, welcoming and more appreciative of the collective diversity that makes us, us. I think that one of the best ways to find love is to learn more about other people, other cultures. If you’re genuinely interested and truly care about the people within them, I’ve found there’s no greater love than what a community like that can give you. And truly, we need that kind of love now more than ever.