My first thought (even when reading the NYT and CNN headlines earlier): dang those guys love alliteration. Like you know it's going to be a fun story.
Second thought: dang this was a more in-depth take than I expected. And THANK YOU for that. Because I don't read Teen Vogue, or basically anything focusing on K-pop culture, and that's literally what I was hoping for with the birth of this site. The short snarky articles, plus the longer expositions on unexpected subjects that are well written and educational. Kudos.
I've been deep into the K-pop stan world since early 2018 (lmao) and I think another perspective so often left out of these articles on racism in stan culture is that Black fans are facing racist remarks from Korean/non-American fans as well. I've seen it happen so many times: Black fans will criticize an artist for having dreadlocks or racist imagery in a video, and Korean fan accounts will rally their followers to harass Black fans through sending them the n-word or racist images. Black fans face the hate from all sides, including from non-English speakers, and I have seen many stop posting or create new accounts to avoid the backlash. I haven't seen that angle covered much at all even by seasoned K-pop writers.
This was something Shannon had mentioned too, that racist behavior wasn't unique to American K-pop stans. This is something that's uncomfortable to even acknowledge within Asian-American communities, that we benefit from and contribute to anti-Blackness, and I'm sure this is a more complicated reality and conversation within Asian communities. I'm wondering if that's why it's not covered as often, just because there's a lot of history and nuance to report out.
My first thought (even when reading the NYT and CNN headlines earlier): dang those guys love alliteration. Like you know it's going to be a fun story.
Second thought: dang this was a more in-depth take than I expected. And THANK YOU for that. Because I don't read Teen Vogue, or basically anything focusing on K-pop culture, and that's literally what I was hoping for with the birth of this site. The short snarky articles, plus the longer expositions on unexpected subjects that are well written and educational. Kudos.
I've been deep into the K-pop stan world since early 2018 (lmao) and I think another perspective so often left out of these articles on racism in stan culture is that Black fans are facing racist remarks from Korean/non-American fans as well. I've seen it happen so many times: Black fans will criticize an artist for having dreadlocks or racist imagery in a video, and Korean fan accounts will rally their followers to harass Black fans through sending them the n-word or racist images. Black fans face the hate from all sides, including from non-English speakers, and I have seen many stop posting or create new accounts to avoid the backlash. I haven't seen that angle covered much at all even by seasoned K-pop writers.
This was something Shannon had mentioned too, that racist behavior wasn't unique to American K-pop stans. This is something that's uncomfortable to even acknowledge within Asian-American communities, that we benefit from and contribute to anti-Blackness, and I'm sure this is a more complicated reality and conversation within Asian communities. I'm wondering if that's why it's not covered as often, just because there's a lot of history and nuance to report out.