This post might be kind of a mess but I'm going to try to keep this organised. My thoughts are a bit all over the place so please bear with me. This is something I've been thinking about with all the controversy going on recently, and people's...extremely differing posts when talking about cultural appropriation.

Also, the "you" in this is in a general sense, and a decent amount of this is in response to people defending idols' actions no matter what the idol does. I don't directly address idols too many times in this post, but the post is directed to the ARGUMENT people use to defend their idols.

First of all, cultural appropriation IS a form of racism. Yes, racism is rooted in hatred and predjudice, BUT committing a racist action (like cultural appropriation) or being complicit in racism (ESPECIALLY unknowingly) does not mean you are A BAD PERSON. Racist and morally bad person are NOT synonyms. Therefore, someone can morally be a decent person but be complicit in racism, or commit a racist action, or believe or perpetuate a racist stereotype. Being a good person, and by extension believing your favourite idols are good people, DOES NOT CHANGE the fact that they did something racist. And again, them doing those things does not automatically make them a bad person. So, STOP excusing idols' CA or other racist actions because "but they're good people!!". You can still support them and believe they're a good person while understanding what they did was wrong.

And here's the thing, racism is not exclusive to one race. It is not that one race is the "racist" race, and other race(s) is/are the race that everyone is racist against. Yes, systemic racism does not exist for some groups of people and is especially bad against others, and that needs to be talked about. But here's the thing -- we're not all involved in systemic racism but we have ALL been complicit in or believed a racist stereotype or supported/done racist actions without knowing/understanding. Maybe you saw a MV in k-pop of someone wearing a headdress or jewelry or braids that you looked at and thought "Oh, that's pretty!" and that's it, and then later you found out it was cultural appropriation and was a racist action. ITS OKAY TO ADMIT TO YOURSELF that you DIDNT know that it was CA while still acknowledging that people are ACTUALLY offended and hurt about it. It's okay to admit to yourself that you DON'T UNDERSTAND the extent to which they're hurt while giving THEM the room to voice their opinions and not invalidate their feelings. Racism is so deeply rooted in society. The only way to CHANGE these things is to take active steps, and that's not just donating or showing support to prove that you're not racist. It's admitting when you hold wrong beliefs, it's actively learning and expanding your knowledge and opening your mind, it's acknowledging that YOU, yes YOU, could be ignorant of racism happening around you and making an effort to change that.

I understand it's hard, and that the word "racist" automatically means "hateful person who actively discriminates against others" in a lot of people's minds. I would be lying if said I'm not nervous about posting this, but I'm going to because I hope that my perspective can help others who may not care about CA or not understand it and think "but i'm not racist!" look at it differently. As a kid growing up in America, I was too young to understand racism against black people and how it affected them. I saw black people wearing cornrows and thought the hair style was beautiful because as a 5-6 year old I didn't know the significance behind that. I was the kid who pestered other black kids about "where'd you get your hair done?!" and begged my mom to let me get my hair done in braids. As I got older, I started understanding that "non-black people don't get their hair done that way" but I didn't understand why and was too afraid to ask. I didn't understand the difference between blackface and cornrows and dying my hair blonde and wearing paler makeup, and for a while, I didn't want to ask questions, didn't want to be labelled as "racist". But here's the thing. People NOT ASKING is why people still are saying "why is cultural appropriation a big deal? why are braids a big deal? Why can't we just share culture?"

People know racism in a discriminatory sense. We understand it in segregation and turning down people for jobs. We don't understand it in microaggressions, in reducing people's culture to hairstyles and aesthetics, in the invalidation others feel when they hear "you're being too sensitive". Some of these things can FEEL arbitrary, and that MAKES SENSE. It does not make you a bad person that you don't understand. But if you truly care about how others feel, then you should start admitting to yourself that sometimes you make mistakes, sometimes your idols make mistakes, and that you should stand by the communities that feel offended. You can support idols that do "problematic" things and just because you didn't know those things were problematic doesn't make them less problematic. Admit that there are issues. Admit you didn't know. It is not minorities' job to cater to you and "stop being so sensitive" -- it is up to you to try to understand them. It is okay if you don't completely understand the first or the second or even the third time. But stop invalidating other people's feelings because you need to defend your pride and your idols and who you support and the fact that "i'm not racist". Attempt to learn and be willing to change your opinion, don't expect people who have faced oppression to change to suit you.