As someone who is a part of the Asian community and enjoys the different Asian cultures, it has been a tough time knowing that people are so cruel in this world. It has also been tough knowing that the celebrities I often turn to have been struggling, but still put on a happy face to make their fans smile. So for today’s post, I really wanted to talk about how Asian artists in the music industry have shared their story and spoken up about the #StopAsianHate movement.
Asians have always had to deal with this systemic racism and unfortunately ever since Covid-19 it has gotten worse. Music industry wise, a lot of Asian celebrities face all the hate because of their high status/fame which makes them the most accessible to hate on. Just look at BTS – they are the biggest group in the world right now and they represent the Asian community severely, but they constantly have to face racism and hate just because of how they look and where they come from. Recently, a radio host in Germany showed racism by saying that BTS is just a nickname for “covid” and then “apologized” by claiming he is not racist and owns a car from South Korea – that does not justify that you are not racist.
BTS have been quiet on Twitter recently, like many other Asians who are finding social media to be a place that brings anxiety. However, earlier this week, BTS finally tweeted about their story (they even translated it to English for international fans)
As well, other K-Pop and Chinese idols have used Twitter and their various platforms to speak up about the #StopAsianHate movement and even shared links to the GoFundMe campaigns.
Famous Korean-American singer, Eric Nam even wrote an article with Time Magazine where he talked about racism and his experience with it. Ending his article with this:
During this tough time, knowing that many celebrities are using their platform for things more than just music has been very comforting and makes me only look up to them even more because of how transparent they are and the advocacy they show.
Before I end this article, I have noticed that some people who like K-pop or C-pop and are not apart of the Asian community have stayed silent during these times, which is unfortunate because it’s not right to be involved in a musical community but not bring awareness to the artist and their community outside of the musical world. Something as simple as reading about it, donating or even retweeting/re-posting can go a long way, just please do not stay silent. The Asian community is already fighting together, but we need the support of other ethnicities as well.
If you would like to learn more about the #StopAsianHate movement or need some resources to donate, here are two links (but you can find many other ones as well):
https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/
https://stopasianhate.carrd.co/
Thank you for reading my posts this year!
Always stay groovy!
