While Trump makes Puerto Rico a ‘joke,’ Bad Bunny taps into the Boricua soul

When Bad Bunny released “Una Velita” on Sept. 19 — seven years, almost to the day, after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico — the world’s most streamed musician from 2020-2022 (until he was dethroned by Taylor Swift) spoke for the close to nine million Boricuas, and shared our soul, and why we are a special people.

The morning Bad Bunny (real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) released his “call to action” song — in which he remembers lighting a candle during Hurricane Maria, and reflects on how the island’s infrastructure has barely improved in the intervening years — I was on a weekly call with Puerto Rican leadership from across the country. We discussed how the New York City Puerto Rican diaspora was the first to arrive to offer aid on the island after the hurricane.

I was reminded of that this Sunday when Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump held a New York City rally, where “the joke” was Puerto Rico.

Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” Puerto Rican MAGA supporters cannot get a pass on this. Trump himself has openly called Puerto Rico dirty and asked if it could be traded for Greenland.

It is as if, with his song, Bad Bunny tapped into the frustration every Puerto Rican would be experiencing during the most divisive election year we have seen.

In Puerto Rico, thousands of voters are likely to be disenfranchised by a system that does not want young and disgruntled voters participating. Stateside, in critical states like Pennsylvania, nearly a half million Puerto Ricans, part of the growing diaspora that has not always felt included, now have the power — through their vote — to elect the next president of the U.S.

Boricuas don’t forget that the Trump administration abandoned its responsibility, and we were left to our own devices to survive after Hurricanes Irma and Maria. It was the Boricuas who helped each other, and it was the Puerto Rican diaspora who rallied resources.

We cannot forget the family members who died. We cannot forget the family members who now live in conditions that mirror those in developing countries. Puerto Rico’s privatized energy system has destabilized the economy by charging some of the highest costs in one of the poorest jurisdictions in the nation.

At roughly the same time Puerto Rico was being insulted at Madison Square Garden, Democratic nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris released an updated Puerto Rican plan offering an “Opportunity” Agenda for Boricuas which includes federal funding parity for Puerto Rico. It includes critical family tax credits, support for home ownership, entrepreneurship, and the ability to create generational wealth.

“Puerto Ricans are the most talented, innovative, and ambitious people,” she said while visiting a restaurant in a predominantly Puerto Rican neighborhood in Philadelphia.

Shortly after Trump’s rally in New York City, Bad Bunny endorsed Harris, posting her pledge of empathetic and competent assistance to Puerto Ricans. Other notable Boricua musicians, including Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, and Ricky Martin, did so, as well.

We have always been a sleeping giant. We have always been a proud people. We demonstrated that we would stand up in a moment of crisis. Let’s stand up and not let them smack us down.

In Puerto Rico, La Alianza, a political coalition of the Citizens’ Victory Movement and the Puerto Rican Independence Party, is changing the game by forming a historic coalition of two parties, helping to unite the divided electorate. New polling shows people are responding.

History is waiting on us. Remember, the Puerto Rican diaspora was the first to respond, and we will have the last word. Make a plan on Tuesday, Nov. 5, to proudly use your power to vote.

And on Wednesday, Nov. 6, “cuando salga el sol,” let’s move Puerto Rico forward. I told the vice president that winning the campaign may be the easiest part. Governing and bringing folks together is harder.

Maria Quiñones Sánchez is the first Latina elected to Philadelphia City Council from 2007-2022, and the former director of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration in Pennsylvania.