The Half Time Scandal

Chris Stanford / PepsiCo Design and Innovation

The half time show performers for this years Super Bowl has Benn announced, and there is mix criticism. Jennifer Lopez, also known as JLo, and Shakira will performing at the Super Bowl this year, which will be hosted in Miami. 

Miami rap pioneer Uncle Luke posted a video on his instagram, explaining how he is disappointed at the lack of mimi-based talent. Luke also expressed his opinion in an article for the Miami New Times. 

This isn’t the other factor that makes the rapper upset. He suggested that there is a lack of African American entertainment that’s from Miami, represented in the half time show. 

Since Jay-Z has been working with the NFL, in attempt to represent the black community, people have been highly upset about the choices, claiming that there is no way white women can represent the black community. 

In today’s society, people have become so sensitive to things that they don’t need to pay any attention too. 

While it is true that the black community has been treated with little to no respect over the years, especially involving the NFL and Collin Kapernick, the hispanic community has had a hell of a year, dealing with immigration, and the new stigma or racism that has been thrown on their shoulders. 

The question still remains: Do you have to be a POC to represent the black community? 

People claim that JLo and Shakria do not represent poc because they are white women. 

Jlo is Puerto Rican-American from the Bronx, while Shakira is was born in Colombia from Lebanese parents. 

The topic of race is a tricky one. 

In the United States, it has been depectied as skin color. You are either white or black, Native American or other. Personally the idea of race doesn’t make since to me. 

Are we determining a person’s race based on their skin color, or their parents skin color? How far do we track it back? What does race really define, or mean? Why is it important?

It’s not. 

If I have a penny for the number of times people have mistaken me as an African American, or mixed, I would be a millionaire. 

That’s a lot of pennies. 

Little do people know that I am Dominican American. I was born in the United States, from parents who are originally from Dominican Republic, yet I grew up in a Dominican culture environment. 

I am fluent in Spanish, I eat the food, sing the songs, dance the dances, and also visit the country. 

My boyfriend’s cousin has a baby, who at first glance, you would assume is white. Yet his mother is black and his father is white. Does that make him black? 

That debate is honestly ridiculous because the color of someone’s skin should not matter. In this day and age, we need to stop feeling comfortable, and only accepting people who look just like us. 

Doesn’t it defeat the point tryin to be made if people don’t accept someone just because they don’t look like they do?