After the widespread outrage following the death of George Floyd, a black man that was killed by Minneapolis police officers, various Korean celebrities have spoken up – including GOT7 member MARK.

From Korean hip-hop rappers to Kpop idols, some known celebrities have shared links documenting ways to make a change through signing petitions, donating and overall educational resources.

On May 31, MARK from GOT7 joined the H1GHER MUSIC artists led by fellow CEO and rapper Jay Park as well as few others Korean artists in donating and relaying said informational links.

MARK donated $7000 dollars to the George Floyd’s official Memorial Fund and urged fans in a twitter post to stay safe and aware.

He was followed by fellow GOT7 members YUGYEOM, JB and JACKSON.

On June 3, YUGYEOM donated to the organization Black Lives Matter while participating in the music industry  #.BlackOutTuesday. It was within the ØFFSHORE collective that JB participated in the #.BlackOutTuesday, while relaying informative links in English and Korean. It’s on June 7 that JACKSON donated to the Black Lives Matter organization, through his TEAM WANG label. He also called fans from all walks of life to fight against racism.

The #BLACKLIVESMATTER movement, that has been translated in many countries such as Brazil and its #VidasNegrasImportam movement or France and its #LesViesNoiresComptent movement, started online. Black communities joined forces to denounce institutionalized racism and police brutality that are killing their people. Whether it is online, in their own communities or on a more nation-wide scale, these anti-racist movements have been vocal and have attempted to create real changes regarding racism impacting black people across the world and denounce the abuse of police from the USA, to France, to the United Kingdom and so many other countries.

The #.BlackOutTuesday, although very controversial, aims to address an issue that has been undermining black creatives within the entertainment industry but more especially within the music industry. The purpose of these various posts was to sparked a very important discussion on the importance of the lack of representation and of the lack of credit given to black cultures, which are the main source of inspiration of said industry.

Rather than focusing on MARK’s, YUGYEOM‘s, JB‘s or JACKSON‘s necessary use of their tremendous platform through social media by spreading awareness on very important matters, we shall focus on the importance for everyone to stay informed, of joining forces be it online or in their community in order to make a change.

Speaking up against the racism and violence affecting black communities across the world – and more especially in the USA, a country were said racist incidents are reported more and more – is very important. Even more so, as the Korean music industry makes profits off black cultures all the while allowing racist behaviors, mentalities and micro-aggressions to prosper.

Rather than applauding MARK’s, YUGYEOM‘s , JB‘s or JACKSON‘s use of their platform to spread awareness, we shall focus on the amount of fans that have mobilized themselves and others straight away because no one needs to wait from the people they might look up to in order to do the right thing. Many have kept the “discussion” of such important matter going both online and in their community, many have spread awareness around them, many have looked up ways to get educated and joined forces with fans, activists and other people in order to make a change.

Stay informed, keep spreading awareness, donate if you can, sign petitions, look up what you can do to make a change in your community, stay safe, BLACK LIVES MATTER.

Here is a link with informational resources:

LINK

Journalist: Lilies
Translator: Lilies
Sources: SNS Mark, SNS Yugyeom, SNS JB, SNS Jackson, NAVER.