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Let me preface this by saying I appreciate it a lot that idols are speaking up. Whatever the motive is I think it brings a lot more attention towards the BLM movement and all in all it is a good thing but I still have my qualms about it I am trying not to indulge in whataboutery.
I come from India and for the past year or so we'd have a lot of things happen, from Kashmiris put into a curfew with not even internet (to this day they only have access to 2g internet) our controversial citizenship law, and just recently a huge riot broke out in the capital, Delhi. All these happened and most of the celebrities never spoke out or expressed any concern for what was happening because they were to scared of losing out on deals. A lot of them have however become very vocal regarding BLM and for this they have been heavily criticized for it by the public because how many police and politicians have gotten away with brutalising Kashmiris, Muslims, Dalits etc but our celebrities have always been mum about the injustice.
Idols have never been the one to express their opinions and I have never been critical towards that. They are entertainers and I know how heavily their companies police every aspect of their lives and social media so I never expect them to express their opinions. I have never seen them speak up about anything that happens in South Korea, Hong Kong protests and things that are closer home. So it's very hypocritical to see them spread awareness about BLM when they can't do the same for their own countries. Btw, I don't have a problem with foreign idols like Mark, Amber, Jay Park etc speaking up. I think they definitely should.
My complaint are these concerns should extend towards their own countries too. If I were a Korean I'd be very disappointed by how idols have found themselves with voice for America and not for their own country and continent. I don't want idols to become activists or anything but if you are going to speak up for someone you should start off with where you live. I mean they have proven themselves capable now of speaking up so I hope in future they carry the same energy for South Korea, and other Asian countries.
Again, I am not mad at idols speaking up. It is good that they are. I am just disappointed about how they never cared about speaking up before but only do it now because how loudly fans have also been demanding they speak up.
I didn't mean to offend anyone by this post. This is just something that is bothering me and I hope I made my point.
Yikes - if any idol claims to love their fans so much, they should have definitely spoken up about this.
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Personally, speaking from an Asian perspective (from Hong Kong), the killing of Black people by police is not really an issue here. Instead, a lot of South Asians get killed by police as they tend to have more of a shady image here (I'm a South Asian from HK, so I have experienced this first hand). Black people in HK tend to be upper-class expats, so while they experience colourism, it's not the same as the situation in the US at all.
Also, yes, Korea has issues of colorism (as do many Asian countries), but racism seems to indicate systematic discrimination. I wouldn't necessarily say that many Asian countries have issues of systematic racism against black people, more so instances of general colourism against anyone "darker than the norm" (as a South Asian, I definitely fit into that). Saying "Black Lives Matter" in the Asian context (& specifically HK context) doesn't make much sense, as that's not the main issue here. Maybe advocating for minority lives here would make more sense, as most minorities in east Asia tend to be other darker skinned Asians & they face discrimination both locally and systematically.