Learning from Bad Bunny ... And Hen Mazzig

 

Learning from a Puerto Rican Rapper

I caught the Superbowl Half-Time Show on Monday morning. My, American, rabbinic colleagues were already posting about it. The Israeli writer, Hen Mazzig, suggested ‘Bad Bunny’ offered a “masterclass in a lesson every minority community needs to learn”. I think his analysis might be the most interesting take on antisemitism and how to defeat it I’ve encountered in several years.

 

It’s not been an easy time to be a Latin American immigrant in the United States and when the NFL invited a politically active rapper from Puerto Rico to perform before 100million American Football fans, many expected a combative attack on ICE and the like. What happened was a celebration of love, Puerto Rican culture and an ending that took my breath away in its audacious reclaiming of the phrase, “God bless America,” chanted before listing every country in the entire northern and southern continent in front of a massive advertising billboard which proclaimed, in capital letters, “THE ONLY THING MORE POWERFUL THAN HATE IS LOVE.”

 

Mazzig’s point was that ‘Bad Bunny,’ “didn’t ask for a seat at the table and then protest when it wasn’t offered.” He just, “took up space.” His suggestion to those who wish to end antisemitism is that, “Rather than asking the world to be afraid on our behalf,” we should celebrate our culture and contribution with the all the vibrancy we can muster. We should focus on showing “true humanity and [proclaiming a] love that is universal in any race, religion, or ethnicity.”

 

I certainly have and will continue to expend time, effort, breath and ink opposing antisemitism. It’s vital to confront antisemitism. But antisemitism will not be ended ONLY by opposing it. Mazzig argues the mere act of opposing antisemitism highlights our fragility. My fear is that if the only way we seek to end antisemitism is through opposition, we will be outnumbered by those forces which are more powerful than we are. We cannot place our faith in our ability to overwhelm our opponents. We have to seek to transform them into our allies. I know that is not easy. It’s just that I don’t think we have another option.

 

Antisemitism, racism and other examples of what Abraham Joshua Heschel called, “the maximum of hatred for the minimum of reason,” can only be ended by all peoples finding points of commonality. We need to share why others should be proud of us, find delight in us and open ourselves to be proud of others in their differences and find delight in them.

It is through pride and celebration that we have a chance to create a less antisemtic world and a better world for us all. So be proud and celebrate.