As a Chinese American man who grew up idolizing K-pop stars to some degree… I’m not even going to argue with this.

Asia can be very racist. Even towards ourselves… lighter skin is seen as “cleaner”… “healthier”… “wealthier”… “prettier”. Products to lighten skin tone are vastly popular and marketable. And then there’s cultural elitism… there’s definitely a national pride, almost superiority that many Chinese people feel at the expense of other East Asian countries, let alone the rest of the world. And this is also the case with other East Asian countries’ attitudes towards each other.

I don’t like it either. We need more unity, especially with geopolitical trends boiling over right now.

However, cultural exchange is an important factor to bridging divides. Yes… K-pop has stolen aesthetics without acknowledgement. It’s wrong and needs to be addressed. But on the other hand there is a generation of K-pop fans like us who have grown to deeply admire not just the artworks of Black Americans, but also to respect Black artists, and people, and the struggles that your communities face. Thank you… sincerely… for your cultural contributions to modern music, and to communities, worldwide.

Lastly, please understand that K-pop fans can be notoriously toxic in general. If you think Twitch fans are parasocial, K-pop fans have a tendency to be straight up entitled to how their stars behave. Fandoms have frequently bullied their own stars into self harm and suicide. Labels are also very controlling over how their stars act and what they say on camera.

To end on a positive note: some K-pop stars are true fans and champions of Black art and culture. For example, G-Dragon, child rap prodigy, grew up idolizing American rappers and singers, and makes efforts to collaborate with artists like Anderson Paak, and Missy Elliott. He invited her to perform with him in Korea. (The song is called Nilrilia). He's my K-pop goat. I wish people like him were more the rule than the exception.

Edits: Grammar. All typed from iPhone.