The Only Thing More Powerful Than Hate Is Love - Poster of the Week
- politicalgraphics
- Feb 13
- 3 min read
¡Viva Puerto Rico Libre!
Ben Morales-Correa; La Raza Silkscreen Center
Silkscreen, 1982
San Francisco, CA
21190
This past Sunday, Grammy-winning reggaeton superstar Bad Bunny (Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) performed at the Super Bowl Halftime Show. His presence at the Super Bowl was contentious from the moment he was announced to be the 2026 performer. “America First”-style critics complained that Super Bowl performers should only be Americans who sing in English. The federal government even announced that ICE would be present at his concert. Bad Bunny is Puerto Rican and therefore a US citizen, and is one of the most popular musical artists in the world.
Bad Bunny’s performance was a love letter to his home of Puerto Rico and a bold political statement of love in a time of hate. He highlighted issues Puerto Rico faces–such as rolling blackouts following Hurricane Maria’s mass destruction in 2017 and the privatization of the electrical grid since 2021. Ricky Martin sang Bad Bunny’s song “Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii,” a song that mourns the colonization, whitewashing and gentrification of the Hawaiian islands and its native peoples, and hopes that fate will not happen to Puerto Rico. Finally, Bad Bunny closed with saying “God Bless America” … and proceeded to educate US audiences that “America” means every country and island in this hemisphere, with a display of flags from across the Americas as the performers danced their way off the field.
CSPG’s Poster of the Week continues this celebration of Puerto Rican history and its centuries-long struggle for sovereignty against ongoing colonization. This poster was made to commemorate the unfurling of the Puerto Rican independence flag from the top of the Statue of Liberty in 1977. The New York Committee to Free the Five Puerto Rican Nationalists occupied the Statue of Liberty's crown for 8 hours. Bad Bunny also replicated this imagery in the music video for his song “NUEVAYoL.”
–Fernando Ponce Laspina, Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico still exists as a territory of the US. They cannot vote for representation in the US government, but the US government controls Puerto Rico’s economy, infrastructure, and political systems. Many Puerto Ricans want statehood, others total independence. But the current model is unsustainable and harmful to the Puerto Rican people.
Together We Are America.
The Only Thing More Powerful Than Hate Is Love
References:
Comments