It is ten minutes to six in the morning but I have thoughts on this thread and I'm going to try to be as unbiased and objective and culturally sensitive as possible when I say what I'm about to say. Please read the full thread before coming at me. https://twitter.com/NE0PEARL/status/1319925021775663104

This thread has offered some interesting perspective on these situations, and I'm glad for this insight on what's happening on the Korean side of things. However I don't agree with several points, and here's why. Also, I'm black. Note that.

"Ifans took a false narrative based on their perceptions of Korean society and labeled them colorist"

You see, the unfortunate reality about stereotypes is that they INDEED have a degree of truth to them. It's uncomfortable to be generalized, yes, but this is coming+

+ from a country where people were ready to crucify and deport a black man for calling out blackface, calling him ungrateful and telling him go back to his country, hurling digusting racist insults that would've been scandalous and consequential had the roles been reversed.

Our perceptions of Korea have been shaped by MULTIPLE, society-wide incidents involving fetishisation of black women, overt colourism towards darker-skinned Asians FROM their fellow peoples, blackface, microaggressions, the whole entire works.

Korea DOES have a colourism problem that's rooted in antiblackness and racism and if you look hard enough through history, U.S. imperialism and interference and that brand of white supremacy is partially responsible for that. Darker-skinned people ARE discriminated against.

Getting back on track now: NOBODY ignored the context of the translations. As a matter of fact, even us who were most upset about the incident held on to a sliver of hope that it could be explained away as a mistranslation.

There are ALWAYS elements of a language that get lost in translation no matter how hard you try and no matter how good you are at a second language. We're very aware of that. Yes, cultural context matters. But you know what? Cultural differences don't excuse racism.

I get this to an extent. I'm sure not every Korean is racist or colourist. But it is very upsetting when incidents occur and people are more upset about being generalized than the action which affected people. It happens EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

And it ABSOLUTELY rubs me the wrong way when I see Kfans using "culture" as an excuse to justify hosts and idols teeheeing over stereotyping black women as loud and violent and aggressive, or viewing us as pieces of exotic meat for consumption, or being blatantly ignorant+

+ when we talk about cultural appropriation of black hairstyles, this obsession with AAVE, "swag" culture, the CONSTANT mockery made of dark skin, the wealth of skin lightening ads/campaigns, how even in the media black people/darker-skinned Asians are stereotyped.

A whole ass curry song and mocking people's sacred/religious/cultural art forms because it "fits" a concept. Throwing bad looking cornrows in your head because you hear hip-hop without understanding what the hip hop genre was born out of and responding to.

So excuse me if I'm tired of the "the world doesn't revolve around the West", "we are Koreans it isn't our culture so you can't get mad at us", "you're racist for calling us racist" rhetoric. It's EXHAUSTING and hypocritical.

Now on this: we were NOT silent by any means, because here's the really ironic thing about I-Nctzens, particularly POC and ESPECIALLY black Nctzens: as much as we will drag those boys when they screw up, we are EQUALLY protective because we care about them stupid Neo boys.

You think we missed those microaggressions or racist comments? We didn't. And here's something people need to understand: humour is very often used as a coping mechanism, a trauma response when it comes to racism. It masks and quells the anger.

Even if we "laughed it off", we had conversations, extensive conversations about what 127 faced in the U.S. We WERE mad, but for a lot of us, experiencing racism is so normalised that trust me, you'd rather us clown the incident than respond with the fullness of our anger.

ALSO. There's a certain amount of privilege that follows being part of a homogeneous society where you are a part of the ethnic/racial majority. I can testify to that growing up in Barbados. My experiences with racism as a black person in Barbados will NEVER be as deadly or+

+severe as that of an African-American. When you get thrusted into a space where you're NOT the majority, the culture shock, the racism, the everything will seem like pure horror. When you're a minority? It's second nature. You know it like you know the way home.

When people are accustomed to being discriminated against, while that anger never goes away, they learn to COPE, because anger will send them into a early grave. If every microaggression sends you into a rage, your heart will blow up sooner or later.

So @ kfans when you're looking at Inctzens, the majority of whom are POC and living in countries where they may very likely be minorities, the outrage you expect may not come in the form you want it.

THIS I fully understand because WHEW, imperialism. However, respecting someone's race, ethnicity, culture and history is not a "Western ideal" and asking for such is not trying to make any one culture or race "superior". What too many kfans deem excusable gets my people KILLED.

What the Neos and MANY, MANY other kpop idols and Korean celebrities have engaged in over the years and gotten away with under the guise of ignorance have meant not getting hired, being rejected by family, getting kicked out, violence for POC, especially black fans.

And when you take people's (read: black) culture and build an entire industry off its back with little credit, make millions off it and STILL disrespect the people from whom that culture was taken, sorry, but be grateful people want you educated and not with your face busted in.

When you are ignorant and racist (whether or not it's intentional), someone correcting you is not being ethnocentric towards you. Ethnocentrism is essentially seeking to impose one particular worldview on everybody and ignoring all other perspectives. They're very different.

This got very long but

1. I said what I said.
2. I hear kfans, but when they're ready to have a nuanced conversation that considers both perspectives without crying victim and ignoring how they have been complicit in condoning ignorance, colourism and racism, THEN we can talk.

That said, don't let me see a soul using OP's thread to silence us cause I will not hesitate to drag you out. If you have a fansign slot, use your voice.