A Nation That Does Not Need to Be Great Again

I did not understand a single word he was saying.

Me, Viktor, watching from Ukraine.

That puts me in the same uncomfortable sentence as Donald Trump, because he said the same thing.

For a second, I was worried about what kind of person I was becoming, but soon the distance appeared.

Because while he was enraged, I was completely overwhelmed. While he despised, I felt represented.

While he complained, I cried.

And this time, my friends, it was my turn to cry.

Something that began in California last night crossed oceans and continents and landed straight inside me.

I must confess that I do not understand American football. I have watched the Super Bowl a few times and still do not know why the clock behaves the way it does. The moves, the points. The endless pauses...

I admit that I watch for the halftime show. And this year, halftime did something historic.

It was the first time I heard about Bad Bunny. I honestly imagined a rabbit, so you can get my level of ignorance.

Then he walked onto the field and sang entirely in Spanish.

I have always found Spanish melodic and beautiful. I am a longtime fan of Enrique Iglesias and always thought his songs sounded better in Spanish anyway.

But this was different.

I did not understand what Bad Bunny was saying, yet it was immediately clear that something historic was happening.

That man was making the strongest possible political statement in the most American event imaginable, without slogans, without shouting, without asking permission.

Watching this from Ukraine was visceral.

A man from a Caribbean island, singing in a language I do not understand, represented me as if he were my compatriot. Not as a foreigner or someone passing by.

As a human being.

And representing millions of Americans too. The ones who reject hate and stupidity. The ones who know their country is bigger than anger.

Standing there, in the heart of America, he showed something essential.

Your country is not that circumstantial “person” in the White House.

The United States of America is more than diversity. It is a nation that celebrates it, and understands that this is a fundamental value for any country that wants to be great.

A country built by people who arrived and keep arriving from everywhere and stayed. Across centuries. Immigrants and their children.

A nation that does not need to be great again, because it never stopped being.

Bad Bunny standing there, refusing to bend or translate himself, was an act of courage that only a truly great nation can contain.

Anyone only need fourteen minutes to see that.

When power says, “I do not understand you,” what it really means is, “I cannot control you.”

In my powerless case, I simply could not control my tears.

And I understood something important:

Those who cry for belonging, for dignity, for one another, will be the ones still here when anger burns itself out.

You are in good company.

—Viktor

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This is how we stay human these days. You’re welcome to stay.

Books by Viktor Kravchuk