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On May 31st, 2022, BTS joined United States President Joe Biden at the White House to celebrate AANHPI Heritage Month.
This grammy nominated group addressed an important subject when meeting Biden: Asian inclusion, representation, discrimination, and anti-Asian hate crime.
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BTS (방탄소년단) or Bangtan sonyeondan stand out in the music industry because they tackle heavy personal and social subjects. They are known for using their social media and platforms to call for social change and encourage activism.
The list of this group’s achievements is incredibly long and humbling, but I would argue that their biggest accomplishment is the beauty of their lyrics and the impact they has on the world.
The seven members — Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook — teach valuable lessons to their fans (the ARMY) with every song and every album. The most important message of BTS is self-love.
The impact of this message was so huge that the Korean group and UNICEF created the ‘Love Myself’ campaign to promote child self-esteem over the past 4 years.
“When it comes to promoting self-esteem and improving mental well-being, one of the most important things you can do is just to start the conversation. The groundbreaking way in which BTS has helped spark a positive message with its ARMY is simply unmatched and incredibly invaluable,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.
The group then continued their journey towards social justice and publicly showed their support for the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 and donated $1 million.
The ARMY (fandom) matched that donation in 24 hours.
In 2021, the South Korean group posted a letter expressing their support for the Stop Asian Hate movement, after the Atlanta shooting that resulted in the deaths of eight people, six of them Asian women, by a white gunman in March 2021.
In that same year, the band became South Korea’s special envoys at the 76th United Nations General Assembly. They once again promoted a message of hope, acceptance, digital interconnectedness, and self-love.
Then Finaly, the White House.
Joined by White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, this iconic group decided once again to use their power as artists and talked about the importance of Asian inclusion and representation.
Asian hate crimes have reached unparalleled levels In the United States since March 2020.
The compilation of hate crime data, published by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, revealed that anti-Asian hate crime increased by 339 percent last year compared to the year before, with New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities surpassing their record numbers in 2020.
Kimmy Yam, NBC News – Jan. 31st, 2022
This conversation between the President and the seven boys from Korea needed to happen because it is a conversation that America need to hear.
Throughout their career BTS positioned themselves as the defenders of the oppressed. This role is Constantly inspiring their fanbase and therefore push the K-pop group to new highs. The bond created with millions of fans all around the world allowed them to continuously share their positive message, and the politicians have no choice but to hear it.
For me, BTS are like superheroes. They saved the lives of numerous fans with their message of self-acceptance and love, they gave their voices to the underrepresented, they spoke up for social justice, and against racism, and provided financial support to causes they believed in.
It’s not wrong to be different. I think equality begins when we open up and embrace all of our differences.
Suga (Min Yoongi) from BTS- White House Press Conference 2022
This proves that only good things come if we support inclusivity and representation in our fandoms. We have to learn to listen to each other, allow mistakes and help one another.
Visit AACAP’s website here and support the AAPI community.
BTS’s new Anthology Album “Proof” comes out on June 10, 2022.
You can listen to the BTS speech at the White House press conference here:
