Invade, Exploit, Oppress, Deny, Condemn
How America plundered the homelands of Bad Bunny and Liam Conejos(Rabbit) Ramos
“WE’RE NOT SAVAGE, WE’RE NOT ANIMALS, WE’RE NOT ALIENS. WE ARE HUMANS, AND WE ARE AMERICANS.” ~ Bad Bunny at the 2026 Grammys
For a large swath of xenophobic right-wingers, Bad Bunny is “the other,” a bilingual artist planning to commit the unspeakable sin of performing in his native tongue of Spanish as well as English at the Super Bowl Halftime Show… a symbol of the very diversity they dream of destroying.
The bad blood for Bad Bunny reveals a comically tragic ignorance as the MAGA hordes scream across social media that he is “not American,” should not be allowed to perform, and should be immediately deported despite the fact that Bad Bunny is from the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, whose residents are all U.S. citizens.
A HISTORY OF COLONIAL EXPLOITATION
U.S. forces invaded Puerto Rico in 1898, framing it as a “liberation” from Spanish rule. However, the true motives soon became clear: the U.S. quickly established a colonial relationship focused on extracting resources and maintaining a strategic military outpost.
New land taxes and predatory lending from U.S. banks led to mass foreclosures for local farmers. By 1930, nearly 45% of all arable land had been converted into sugar plantations, dominated by a few U.S. corporations, such as the American Sugar Refining Company.
The Puerto Rican peso was eventually outlawed, causing Puerto Ricans to lose nearly half their wealth, as the island was transformed into a massive sugar farm for U.S. corporations.
By 1910, American sugar companies controlled over 60% of arable land, forcing many small farmers into low-wage labor on plantations they once owned. In the 1930s, agricultural workers were paid as little as 12 cents a day. Others were forced into urban slums.
During the mid-20th century, a massive sterilization campaign targeted Puerto Rican women, blaming overpopulation for the island’s poverty, unemployment, and “backwardness."
THE HOMELAND OF LIAM RAMOS AND HIS FATHER, ADRIAN ALEXANDER CONEJO ARIAS
Beginning in the 1960’s, the CIA fomented a series of coups in Ecuador, paving the way for U.S. oil companies to exploit Ecuador’s natural resources and labor, extract billions of barrels of oil while keeping the Ecuadorean people in abject poverty.
During its nearly 30 years of operation, Texaco dumped more than 16 to 18 billion gallons of toxic waste into the Amazon rainforest, contaminating roughly two million acres of the Ecuadorian Amazon, leading to increased rates of cancer, lung disease, and chronic skin lesions among Indigenous populations.
Seeking asylum, Liam Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, arrived in the United States from Ecuador legally through a port of entry in Brownsville, Texas, in December 2024.
When heavily armed, masked ICE agents grabbed the little boy last month in Colombia Heights, Minnesota, shipping him far away to a detention center along with his father, Liam became the poster boy across the nation for the cruelty being committed around the nation by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Protests broke out across the nation and overseas. A stinging rebuke from a Texas judge against DHS led to the release of Liam and father, allowing them to return home after two weeks of incarceration.
Bad Bunny made history at the 2026 Grammy Awards by becoming the first Latin artist to win Album of the Year took home three awards in total, marking a significant milestone for Latin music.
He dedicated his awards to all those who have had to leave their homeland to pursue their dreams, highlighting the struggles of immigrants. In a poignant moment, he stated, “The only thing that’s more powerful than hate is love,” urging everyone to respond to conflict with love rather than hate.
Right-wing media is staging an alternate Super Bowl halftime show headlined by Kid Rock, who has a criminal history of assault at a strip club, battery at a Waffle House, numerous alcohol-related offenses, and has often performed with an oversized Confederate flag at his concerts.
THEY ARE ALWAYS SHOWING US WHO THEY TRULY ARE
RESOURCES:
Bad Bunny won big at the 2026 Grammys. It’s a boost at a dark time for U.S. Latinos ~ AP
The real reason conservatives are furious about Bad Bunny’s forthcoming Super Bowl performance ~ The Conversation
The Dark History of Forced Sterilization of Latina Women ~ Panoramas
Revealing the Hidden History Behind the U.S. Invasion of Puerto Rico ~ The American News
Is Puerto Rico Part Of The United States? (2026) – All You Need To Know ~ PuertoRico.com
The History of Ecuador ~ U-Chicago
Unveiling modern slavery: Ecuador’s landmark case against corporate abuse
CIA in South America ~ Geopolitical Monitor ~ Open Global Rights
A preschooler was taken away by ICE, but officials say they had no choice. ~ CNN
ICE Agents Allegedly Forced a 5-Year-Old to Knock on the Front Door of His Own House ~ Distractify
Democrats Call for Release of 5-Year-Old Detained by ICE ~ NYT
Judge orders release of 5-year-old Liam Ramos and his dad from ICE detention ~ NPR
Kid Rock is a Disgrace ~ Bridge, MI
Kid Rock and the NAACP ~ Jim Crow Museum
"THEY ARE ALWAYS SHOWING US WHO THEY TRULY ARE"...And you are aleays showing us who they truly are. Thanks, Brad.