How Idols and Asians in General Can Support Black People in Their Fight for Equality
Introduction
I will be replacing my original topic for EP. 1 of the series for this issue because it means a lot to me as someone who is Black in society and it should mean a lot to everyone as this is a human rights issue. If you are a good person, stand up by fighting for humanity.
I've been feeling a lot of feelings that are still too scrambled and complex to express into words after all the unjust murders of Black people that have happened in recent years, especially the most recent, George Floyd.
It is hard fearing for your life every day and then when you find some peace in entertainment, that entertainment industry does not recognize your struggle when you're not fangirling/fanboying over your faves. It's hard when your faves are of a racial group that chooses silence when horrible things happen to us.
Being both Black and a K-pop fan has led to me having some serious discussions about the power that idols could have using their platforms when they choose to take or not take action. It also has led to discussions about Asians and their lacking support for Black people. This blog post is speaking to them mainly but it is still meant to send a message to anyone that reads it. Even if you are not Asian, please still discuss the things I wrote about with any Asian friends or family.
The Problems and Solutions
I've seen, heard, and noticed some common reasons as to why silence is their common choice and I have a short commentary and advice for every single one, first with Asians in general and then idols.
Asians are not encouraged to get into politics.
----> Commentary<----
I've heard it and seen evidence that supports what I've heard. Asians are usually not involved in politics and are not encouraged to do so at all. (I wish I had a good stat that doesn't just show, Black, White, and Other) but honestly, you don't need one if you just look around.
You don't often see Asians discussing anything political with their friends, family, and children and when the news shows people voting at the voting centers, barely anyone there is Asian. Even politicians have not begged for their votes as much as they beg for Black votes because they and Asians themselves don't believe that they have any real role in politics. But one of the things they describe as politics ain't politics and that IS the movement of #BlackLivesMatter.
----> Solutions<----
Even if you, as an Asian, choose to not involve yourselves in politics, please involve yourself in this. If politicians use it for their rhetoric, that's their problem. This movement is not just politics, it is predominantly a human rights issue. Unjust killings of human beings, no matter what color, is NEVER right. If you believe that, here are some things Asians can do.
- Start discussions.
- Vote for politicians who don't feed systematic racism.
- Donate to #BlackLivesMatter and the victims' campaigns
Asians are comfortable in their "model minority" status.
----> Commentary<----
There's no energy that I get from Asians as a whole that would suggest otherwise. Based on actions, it seems like Asians want to "stay out of trouble" so that they can still benefit from being higher up in the global social caste called White Supremacy. At the end of the day, I see no long-term benefit of feeding into a chaste that still doesn't view Asians as equal to Whites and encourages them to look down on others. Being Asian may have some advantages but still not like White people so why play their little game if Asians and other people of color don't get all the passes that Whites get, even if they get more than Blacks, Hispanics, SEAs, South Asians, etc.?
----> Solutions<----
Don't be comfortable with receiving barely mediocre treatment or discriminating against people who are negatively impacted by the same system that doesn't even respect you either.
- Don't dismiss your privilege.
- Acknowledge your disadvantage.
- Model your perception of yourself and others by merit and your personal values.
---->Commentary<----
The Western media promotes false images of Asians too yet so many are comfortable with using it as a credible source. Why trust a media that does not even bother represent your people, let alone do it right? Never forget that people tend to make the mistake of putting prejudice before facts and the racist people in the media do the same thing. At the end of the day, facts are the ONLY reliable source.
----> Solutions<----
It's difficult to un-brainwash yourself but, at the same time, it's so simple once you apply critical thinking and facts.
- Why is this rhetoric being pushed?
- Is the rhetoric harmful?
- What do said people gain from pushing such rhetoric?
- Why do they want me to have negative feelings toward a certain racial/ethnic group?
- What is the history between those people?
- What are the facts?
These are the questions you should be asking yourself when you see or hear negative rhetoric about a group of people. Everything is not what it seems.
When it comes to idols, all of the above affects them and applies to them too. Plus, they do have some issues that are part of their job.
The company and/or management could censor or punish them for speaking out on controversial topics.
----> Commentary<----
This is something that is a roadblock whether or not they want to speak up or be silent. Idols tend to dodge any touchy topics and don't talk about important issues that Koreans (and other Asians) in the general public do. Usually, it's to save face and not cause any public outrage.
----> Solutions<----
It can be a bit scary to risk punishment by the company for having an opinion. Nonetheless, the lives of those Black people cannot be replaced but idols can always pick themselves up if their company punishes them and recover their career but once a person's life is gone, it's gone forever. Silence just makes it seem like they're complacent with that. If they care, they'll do what is right.
They can...
- Like BLM posts
- Donate the to victims' campaigns
- Share BLM posts
and if they're really bold...
- Write their own message about the issue
The Idol Support Discussion
The more idols that support, the less the companies can touch them. Strength in numbers.
Just look at this amount of Korean celebrities that have spoken out. The more that speak out, the more the idols no longer have to be afraid. I can wait to see many more idols on this thread and I have faith that we will see more.
And this leads me to a discussion about idol's silence on the issue, specifically on Johnny (NCT), I had on Twitter and I decided to include it in this post to get some perspective. I won't include the person's username as politeness even though I know much of the k-pop fandom has already seen this person's tweet.
Here's how my thought process went. People can't use Yeri or any of the other idol's bravery to basically undermine the potential repercussions speaking on the issue could have. This could easily turn into a competition which I am NOT here for because it distracts from the reason we wanted them to speak out anyway. Not every idol is brave enough to speak controversial topics and that should be acknowledged. Instead of blaming idols, fans should blame the companies (and even some so-called fans) for even restricting them like that and making them scared to voice their own opinions. No matter if an idol's opinions are controversial or not, they still walk on eggshells.
At the same time, they still should anyways and I still expressed that in my tweets. They need to overcome the fear, especially since, now, they won't be alone. But I do believe that they should do it when they are ready; when they have overcome their fear and deeply thought about and clearly planned out what they're going to say.
I bet many of the Korean celebrities that showed their support were hesitant because they wanted to be careful and make sure they don't say or do the wrong thing. Allies join when the time is right and that isn't always when we want them to.
One could easily ask, where was all this support when Childish Gambino's "This Is America" was trending worldwide including S. Korea? Koreans were listening to it and reacting to the MV. The video is pretty self-explanatory and Americans explained it even more.
Where was the support when Korean channels were reacting to police brutality and other police brutality news were making headline after headline, and even reach world news?
I know that George Floyd was the tip of the iceberg and his story is even more worldwide but this kind of thing is OLD NEWS and it's old news that has definitely made it to S. Korea a couple times. The point is.... not everyone arrives at the same destination at the same time. I know that more will stand up for what is right. Everything takes time.
Let's ALL continue to support the cause and ask idols to show their support! Remember, Black lives mattered yesterday, they matter today, they matter tomorrow and forever.✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽
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