Forward of their assembly with President Biden within the Oval Workplace Tuesday, members of the Korean pop supergroup BTS appeared on the each day White Home briefing with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to handle the rise in hate crimes and discrimination in opposition to Asians in america.
“We have been devastated by the current surge of hate crimes, together with Asian American hate crimes,” Jimin, one of many band’s seven members, stated in an announcement by way of an interpreter on the briefing.
“It isn’t fallacious to be completely different,” stated Suga. “Equality begins once we open up and embrace all of our variations.”
“Everybody has their very own historical past,” Kim Tae-hyung, higher often known as V, added. “We hope as we speak is one step ahead of respecting and understanding every and everybody as a priceless individual.”
They didn’t take questions from reporters.
The Grammy-nominated group’s assembly with Biden, a part of the administration’s recognition of the Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month, will likely be closed to the press.
In an announcement saying their go to, the White Home stated that Biden “has beforehand spoken about his dedication to combating the surge of anti-Asian hate crime.” In Might 2021, he signed into regulation the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act to “present regulation enforcement with assets to establish, examine and report hate crimes” in Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander communities.
Biden and BTS will “additionally talk about the significance of variety and inclusion and BTS’ platform as youth ambassadors who unfold a message of hope and positivity the world over,” the White Home added.
The sit-down comes days after Biden’s first journey to Asia as president. The go to included a three-day cease in Seoul, South Korea, the place he met with newly elected President Yoon Suk-yeol.
Following a string of anti-Asian hate crimes within the U.S. in 2021, together with the shootings at three Atlanta-area spas the place eight individuals, lots of them Asian girls, have been killed, members of BTS spoke out about their very own expertise with discrimination.
“We recall moments once we confronted discrimination as Asians,” the band stated in an announcement. “We’ve endured expletives with out purpose and have been mocked for the way in which we glance. We have been even requested why Asians spoke in English. We can not put into phrases the ache of turning into the topic of hatred and violence for such a purpose.”
