"It isn't fallacious to be totally different, and equality begins after we open up and embrace all of our variations," Suga mentioned.
BTS joined White Home Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday to share a heartfelt testimony towards the devastating rise of Asian-targeted hate crimes in the US, as AAPI Heritage Month involves an in depth.
“Hello, we’re BTS. It's a nice honor to be invited to the White Home right this moment to debate the essential problems with anti-Asian hate crimes, Asian inclusion and variety,” RM started the group’s highly effective message, together with his six bandmates behind him, all wearing smooth black fits.
“This AAPI Heritage Month, we be a part of the White Home to face with the AAHPI neighborhood and to have fun,” Jin continued, earlier than Jimin added, “We had been devastated by the latest surge of hate crimes together with Asian-American hate crimes, however to place a cease to this and assist the trigger, we’d wish to take this chance to voice ourselves as soon as once more.”
J-Hope took a chance to thank the celebrity group’s devoted fan base, saying, “We're right here right this moment due to our ARMY, our followers worldwide who've totally different nationalities and cultures and use totally different languages. We're actually all the time grateful.”
Jungkook added, “We nonetheless really feel shocked that music created by South Korean artists reaches so many individuals all over the world, transcending languages and cultural limitations. We consider music is all the time a tremendous and fantastic unifier of all issues.”
To wrap up, Suga proclaimed, “It’s not fallacious to be totally different, and equality begins after we open up and embrace all of our variations,” earlier than V concluded, “Everybody has their very own historical past. We hope right this moment is one step ahead to respecting and understanding every one as a priceless particular person.”
The compilation of hate crime information, printed by the Heart for the Examine of Hate and Extremism earlier this yr, revealed that anti-Asian hate crimes elevated by 339 % in 2021 in comparison with the yr earlier than, with New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and different cities surpassing their report numbers in 2020.
Go to AACAP’s web site right here for extra sources on the best way to uplift and assist the AAPI neighborhood, and perceive the burden of racism and xenophobia they face.
This story first appeared on Billboard.com.