I participated in this great roundtable discussion on K-Pop and Racial Justice last week with @TheKpopProf and @mihyun_yoon about "what K-Pop fans need to know if they really love and support their idols" so here are the three biggest takeaways for me:
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1/ Know the history and origins of K-Pop. It came from US military occupation and cultural influence in a war torn and destitute Korea, during a time of racial segregation in the US i.e. the 1950s, and those dynamics were brought to Korea as well. https://koreanwarlegacy.org/chapters/african-americans-in-the-korean-war/">https://koreanwarlegacy.org/chapters/...

2/ Understand that Asian faces, names, and cultures get heavily racialized, all of us, from the richest K-Pop idol to the poorest American-born struggling to make ends meet in the US- we get flattened by racism that erases our nationality, individuality. https://apnews.com/article/kpop-bts-anti-asian-racism-0c90645c99f48d2c7e5db34d6112d0c5">https://apnews.com/article/k...

3/ YES Asian Americans have faced systemic racism, and starting from at least the 1960s we have been part of the broader fight for racial justice. Don& #39;t let anyone tell you otherwise. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/postscript/corky-lees-photographs-helped-generations-of-asian-americans-see-themselves/amp">https://www.newyorker.com/culture/p...

Asian American activism has even gone transnational as some diaspora will connect back to the politics of our home countries, *and* as those home countries become more multicultural and racially diverse.

We had a great turnout and great engagement, so I wanted to share my thoughts on that for ppl who couldn& #39;t make it. And I& #39;m just thankful. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="❤️" title="Rotes Herz" aria-label="Emoji: Rotes Herz">/End