Bad Bunny, America, and mestizaje
El mestizaje . As I reflect on the performance this past Sunday by Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, I think back to an encounter I had with my abuela when I was very young. I made the announcement that there was no difference between Black and white people. That racism was stupid. That I didn't understand it. My abuela's skin was ivory white, her eyes a piercing blue. And this woman who I loved told me I was being silly. Black people had different hair, big noses, dark skin. They were nothing like "us". Fast forward a few decades. I eagerly open up my 23&Me results. And it was just as I expected. About 75% of my genetics came from Spain. And 25%? Everywhere else. Africa. Indigenous. Even a bit of Azekanzi. I was proudly, gloriously mestizo. I was a mix of all the people which make up the Western Hemisphere, lands colonized and exploited, lands enslaved. And yet out of that conflict came this glorious culture, this deep art and literature and music. Choosing phenot...
