#and it will unfortunately probably still happen with some other idol sooner than you'd think because no one actually cares

[snowdeong]

My opinion on what just happened (because I'm black and African and while antisemitism and anti-blackness aren't the same, they way that these issues show up in kpop are similar and I've wanted to rant about them for a while)

Also this is so messy but I'm one of those people that needs to write out my thoughts in longform to understand how I feel about something so if anyone actually reads this hwghwg sorry.

First things first, at the end of the day Chae's probs not an anti-semite. Ofc that's not for me to say like I said I'm black and ugandan, not Jewish, but simplifying the whole thing to just Chae as an individual won't solve the real problem at hand here. THAT BEING SAID wearing that shirt and posting a pic on her ig with a fuck tonne of followers from different places in the world is insensitive and anti-semetic plain and simple whether she's aware of that or not. She's not just posting this to certain fans who'd know all the context lmao. And again context or not, that symbol is harmful all the context in the world won't erase that. We as fans should be educating her not trying to hide that it happened wtf? The problem is bigger than just chae or the group or even the kpop industry yes but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't raise awareness about wtf happened and talk about it.

Idk why kpop stans boil serious issues down to "protecting their faves" or attacking an idol they dislike. This is serious and fucking hurtful in a real way wtf??? I really think our concern should be for all the Jewish folk and other affected groups randomly seeing someone they might stan wearing such a hateful symbol casually and then also having to see people defend her like??? Liking someone or something should also mean having the capability to criticise that person or thing. You can stan someone and call them out on bullshit.

Also something I think a lot of koop stans don't seem to understand is that all these companies don't actually give af about us beyond our money. So being a global group doesn't actually mean the company will do the work to teach their idols that being a global group means that there's some shit you should be aware of. And I say teach the idols not because I don't expect them to do individual work, but because we've seen how this cycle goes lmao. An idol says or wears something offensive, the fandom gets mad, they rush an apology and the loop continues. Companies that actually gave af about us would see this shit happening to other companies and go "okay here's shit you should and should not know" to their idols. But they don't and they won't ever probably and the sooner we learn that the sooner we'll stop being so "surprised" when this shit happens.

Now about Chae as an individual. I'm def dissapointed but again I'm also not surprised. And I don't mean that in a "oh obvs she's bigoted" way like Chae is such a loving person and I really admire and love her I wouldn't stan the group if I thought they were shitty people. If she said she said that she didn't know what that meant I'd really believe her because I know that if she did she's not the sort that'd be out here flaunting hate on her instagram of all things. I might be deluded from stanning and all but I genuinely believe that.

Pop culture is racist, pop culture is anti-semetic, pop culture is queerphobic, pop culture is bigoted. The way that a Ugandan would probably be confised if you asked them what that symbol is, I'm sure is the same way it is in SK because the western content that's transferred over is extremely whitewashed shit (that's the context I mentioned earlier). When I say whitewashed I don't mean just white people I mean that the majority of it is white approved tm, it fits within the white patriarchal cishetnormative framework that's been established and pepetuated for years and years and years. That's not to say we shouldn't do our individual research ofc like especially if you're going to be an idol ffs, we should always be mindful. But again, if all the stuff readily available to you is bigoted then you're not going to look at a shirt with a certain symbol on it and immediately get that wearing that is fucked up.

(We also need to take into account the fact that that symbol means something totally different within different Asian religions. Not an excuse for her, just a fact that a lot of people unfortunately don't know cause they don't know anything about Buddhism and the like. I personally only learnt this last year while reading Bleach)

I don't say any of this as a defense I just think that we as minorities need to understand that the world is designed in a way where our trauma is constantly downplayed and erased. And that fucking sucks but that's how oppression keeps perpetuating itself. As a black kpop stan I've had to see so much bullshit lmao so I know it's hard to accept that there's a possibility that none of this will change. I'm all for assuming the best of people but it's also important to keep this in mind about everyone.

I really hope Jewish and other affected folks heal from this and recieve a genuine apology for the love of fuck. I do believe that Chae's not a hateful person truly but I hope that this teaches her, the girls and all other artists that it doesn't stop at just not being hateful. We have to put in work to be mindful, that's the best way to be loving to the people around you. I also hope jyp as a company takes this as an initiative to actually teach their idols shit about world issues if they're gonna be promoted globaly (but tbh I'm not holding my breath on this lmao like companies ain't shit)