“We feel grief and anger,” BTS says in an emotional note about Asian hate

TIME Magazine

Recently, a series of hate crimes against the Asian-American and Pacific-Islander community has taken over the USA. Sadly, most of the victims of this violence are senior citizens and the elderly. This, of course, led to widespread rallies to #StopAsianHate. Record-breaking K-Pop septet BTS is one of the supporters of this plea.

Rising hate crimes towards the elderly in the US

Countless elderly Asians have become victims of these attacks since the pandemic began. Two weeks ago, six Asian-Americans became a victim of murder in an Atlanta shooting. Unfortunately, the most recent victim of these violent attacks would be a 65-year-old Filipino woman.

Walking to church in broad daylight, a man randomly walked up to her. Then, he shouted, “Fuck you, you don’t belong here.” He pushed her to the ground and then, mercilessly beat her. The CCTV footage even showed that he kicked her on the head at least three times.

BTS expresses support to the #StopAsianHate movement

In response to this issue, South Korean pop group BTS posted a heartfelt letter. They expressed their support for the #StopAsianHate movement. They expressed their stand against racial discrimination. Aside from that, they also encouraged people to stand together against racism.

“We send our deepest condolences to those who have lost their loved ones. We feel grief and anger. And, we recall moments when we faced discrimination as Asians. We have endured expletives without reason and were mocked for the way we look. We were even asked why Asians spoke in English.”

“We feel grief and anger,” BTS says in an emotional note about Asian hate

The members of BTS also elaborated how their own experiences with racism have caused them to feel “powerless.” They also admitted that it had affected their self-esteem.

“We cannot put into words the pain of becoming the subject of hatred and violence for such a reason. Our own experiences are inconsequential compared to the events that have occurred over the past few weeks. But these experiences were enough to make us feel powerless and chip away our self-esteem. What is happening right now cannot be dissociated from our identity as Asians.”

Then, they ended their statement condemning violence and discrimination. They also said that all humans have a right to be respected. Of course, several netizens expressed their admiration towards the septet’s conviction regarding this social dilemma. Our team also has high respect for them because of this bravery to speak up for the powerless.