J.Lo’s performance was landmark for Puerto Ricans
When I saw Jennifer Lopez strut across the Super Bowl halftime show stage with the Puerto Rican flag robe draped across her back, I screamed.
Not in the “What is happening?” way, but the “This is happening!” way.
Growing up in Houston to Puerto Rican parents had conditioned me only to expect the island’s flag in our home or the homes of our relatives and Puerto Rican friends. The flag is important to us. One flag was passed down from my father to my brother and is prominently displayed in his bedroom. You can catch glimpses of the flag hidden in plain sight throughout the family home: a painting here, a sign there. The pride is laced into the sounds of Andrés Jiménez echoing down the hallways on Saturday mornings. It’s noticeable and omnipresent and home.
I never thought — even after I found out J.Lo was headlining with fellow superstar, Shakira — that the Bronx Boricua queen would be boasting the flag across that stage, no less after featuring her own daughter, Emme, trapped in a cage.
A Latina was in front of me commanding the room, and the whole world was watching. This wasn’t just for Puerto Ricans, who were probably in their living rooms screaming por la patria.
It reminded me that while Jennifer Lopez might be on that stage, the rest of her people aren’t.
It’s not a new concept that Puerto Ricans are used to being forgotten. It’s ingrained in the blood of Puerto Ricans to feel less than to other U.S. citizens, especially those born on the mainland. I learned this early: My childhood bully didn’t know Puerto Rico existed until I yelled, “I’m from Puerto Rico!” after months of him telling me that Mexicans don’t belong in Texas.
We’re the island territory only remembered by the media during damaging times in our island’s history, i.e. the hurricanes and earthquakes that have ravaged the island the past three years.
Approximately 1.7 percent of Latinos in Texas are Puerto Rican. While the number is small, it’s not insignificant. Those 177,448 people — 24,510 of whom are in Harris County — make up a thread of families who contribute meaningfully to society as HVAC technicians, attendance registrars, restaurant owners, oil and gas workers, janitors, CEOs and professional baseball players. Some itch to return, but like my family, realize it may not be possible. The lack of oversight from the federal and local government was something my parents noticed early on in their adulthood. Houston was the place they leaped to because they knew two people who had gained opportunity here: my mom’s parents. With a one-way plane ticket and $800 between both of them, my mom and dad made something of themselves in a city thousands of miles from the only home they’d ever known.
We don’t let fear stop us. J.Lo didn’t have to make a political statement, but she did. Puerto Ricans didn’t have to oust their own corrupt governor, but we said screw it and screw you, Ricardo Rosselló, and got rid of him anyway. We stick up for ourselves.
Sunday’s show clocked in 99 million views in three days. One of the world’s biggest pop stars brought Puerto Rico to the forefront of people’s minds.
People are watching, but are they paying attention? That halftime show granted me a fleeting hope that the government couldn’t. Looking at Latinas on that stage, singing in my first language, brought tears to my eyes and made me realize just how little people know about the island.
Lopez and her daughter singing “Let’s Get Loud” with a medley from “Born in the U.S.A.” gave me faith that maybe people would listen and learn. I’m proud that she used her platform to celebrate and honor Puerto Rico from the heart. We need more of these moments to be able to keep the island at the front of people’s minds. I implore those who have the platform to speak up and use your power to focus attention back to what is happening in Puerto Rico. It’s dire.
We don’t see enough Puerto Ricans representing their home. It took me a long time to be proud of my heritage and upbringing. Houston is a great place that can be terribly soul-sucking if you’re not careful. I didn’t realize how much my family meant to me until I moved away from Houston. They were the reason I came back. I’ll never be ashamed to be a Puerto Rican again.
It shouldn’t take an earthquake, a hurricane or a stripper pole to make the rest of the United States — and the world — realize we exist. We’re loud, we’re proud and we aren’t going anywhere.