Being Black and Loving BTS

I adore BTS. I love everything about them. From their music to their cute humor to their humbleness. I adore these boys far more than you can imagine. It’s to the point that a person could just put a picture of one of their ears and I would likely know who it was and what event it was taken at. Over the time that I have come to know BTS my obsession over them has grown; as well as my awareness of the racism that exists in the fan base. Disclaimer: I know that not every A.R.M.Y. will have the same experiences as me, this is just my opinion after being in the fandom for a while.

A fandom is like a club or a group of close friends. It isn’t so easy to leave when connections and memories are built with a fandom. Especially, since there are many more good people than bad. However, the good people in the fandom fail to call out racism when it happens to others.

The hypocrisy of it all is what truly gets to me. There are so many people that will say that BTS looks like girls or will purposely call them Chinese when they are Korean. A.R.M.Y. hate when the boys are insulted like that. Western Stans could say they look Chinese and get dragged for filth, I’ve seen it happen multiple times. Yet, when it comes to their fellow A.R.M.Y. being called dirty rats, they couldn’t seem to care less. A.R.M.Y. always have a protective mentality for the boys but are lacking when it comes to their fellow A.R.M.Y.

The real question is why are people defending someone that is being hurtful towards another person because of their race? Most of them that do so say it is so they don’t make the fandom “look bad” or give BTS “a bad image.” A lot of them will be quick to defend their idols but turn a blind eye when they see whitewashing pictures of the boys or fellow A.R.M.Y. being called racist slurs.

When I see a black A.R.M.Y. being harassed online with others I don’t feel like a part of a family. I feel like a commodity. Non-black fans will accuse reaction channels of clout and be twice as harsh on newcomers that are black than their non-black counterparts. Black artists that mention BTS in anyway will be accused of using BTS for clout. When Rap Artist, Wale, did a collaboration with one of the members of BTS; A.R.M.Y. did not support the song and went as far as accusing Wale for using BTS for clout when he was approached by them, not the other way around.

I wouldn’t be surprised if I was going to get accused of making this article for clout. I’m not writing this just to get “clout” or “fame” from anyone. I’m writing this because it is what I have seen being a Black Woman in a fandom that seems to discredit Black people as a whole. I want to tweet my selfies on ARMY without worrying if I am going to get called a terrible name. I want to feel free to talk about black culture in K-pop without being called an “annoying SJW.”

This type of behavior goes beyond “embarrassing” your fandom or your idols. This is enabling hatred and disgusting harassment towards innocent people who are supposed to be in the same “family” as you. Would any decent human let this sort of harassment happen to their actual family? Of course not. So why let it happen to someone who is in a group they call their family?

Black A.R.M.Y. stay resilient despite constant racism and a lack of support from others in the fandom. Several twitter hashtag projects have been done in response to the issue. The latest of them being #BlackoutBTS for Black fans to post selfies of themselves, usually alongside their favorite photos of the members. The hashtag #BlackArmyProblems being created to speak on the stereotypes that black fans face from family and friends for liking a K-pop group.

You need to call out racism and harassment when you see it. Don’t just let it go like a random incident and don’t act like addressing it will make your fandom look bad. Ignoring racism and harassment is as bad as being a racist and harasser. End of story.