Have You Forgotten?

By Kyle Fields

You know what’s funny? A man gets picked to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show, and somehow that turns into a debate about what it means to be American. Not about the music. Not about the art. Not even about the game. Just a bunch of people arguing about language, borders, and who they think belongs here.

Bad Bunny. That’s all it took.

A Puerto Rican artist, born a United States citizen, chosen to perform on the biggest stage in the world. And instead of celebrating a win for representation, some folks lost their minds. Suddenly, it wasn’t about talent or global success. It was about English. It was about “real Americans.” It was about fear pretending to be patriotism.

Then came the poster for “America’s Halftime Show.” A bunch of white artists, country singers, and classic rockers lined up like a musical wall. Kid Rock, Ted Nugent, Travis Tritt, Jason Aldean, Aaron Lewis. The caption said “America’s Halftime Show,” but looking at it, you’d think America only came in one color.

And that’s when it hit me.

We’ve been slowly forgetting what this country was built on.

Thomas Jefferson wrote:

“Every man is created equal, that we are all endowed with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Those words weren’t perfect. The man who wrote them wasn’t either. But they were meant to be a promise. A foundation we were supposed to grow into.

Instead, we’ve used them as a weapon. We’ve used “freedom” to justify hate, “patriotism” to excuse cruelty, and “faith” to condemn people who don’t fit our mold. Somewhere between the Declaration and the halftime show, we stopped trying to be a melting pot and started trying to be a mirror. We only want to see our own reflection staring back.

It’s crazy when you think about it. A song, a performance, a moment meant to bring people together now divides them. We used to say music was universal. That it spoke a language everyone could understand. Now we treat it like a border wall.

Bad Bunny isn’t the problem. The problem is how fast people showed what they really think when they saw a Spanish-speaking artist in a space they believe only belongs to them. Suddenly, everyone forgets that Puerto Rico is a United States territory. Suddenly it’s “If you’re a U.S. citizen, you should know how to speak English.” One person even quoted, “142 countries teach English as their second language,” like that has anything to do with anything. That just proves the point — the U.S. has spent centuries telling other countries you are nothing if you don’t learn our language, even if you never plan to step foot here. We expect the rest of the world to accommodate us, and we don’t want to extend the same courtesy to our own citizens, many of whom were born speaking Spanish in a land we already claim.

So yeah, I’ll ask again.

Have you forgotten?

Have you forgotten what America was supposed to stand for? That freedom wasn’t meant to come with fine print? That equality wasn’t supposed to have conditions? That your faith and your flag were never supposed to be tools for hate? Have you forgotten that as Christians, God tells us to love one another as He has loved us, without exception, without prejudice, without using religion to justify fear or anger?

You can disagree with someone’s music. You can change the channel. But when you start deciding who gets to be American based on language or skin tone or birthplace, you’ve forgotten what it means to be one nation under God.

Maybe it’s time we remember.

Because I still believe in this country. I still believe in its heart. I still believe in its promise.

And I still believe that a halftime show shouldn’t divide us more than the things that actually matter.