‘Prejudice should not be tolerated’: BTS on why they donated to Black Live Matter

Global Korean pop group BTS opened up about why they donated
$1 million to Black Lives Matter. While they explained their stance, they iterated
that they ‘do not consider themselves political’ and the donation did not have
any hidden agenda. The seven members of BTS — Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V,
and Jungkook — and their label, Big Hit Entertainment, made the donation in
June during the protest over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

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“When we’re abroad or in other situations, we’ve also been
subjected to prejudice. We feel that prejudice should not be tolerated; it
really has no place. We started to discuss what we could do to help, whether it
was a donation or something else. That’s where the conversation began — just
trying to see what we could do to try to alleviate this prejudice,” Variety
quoted Jin as saying.

“It was a decision we thought about very carefully: what
could we do, as part of our overall message of speaking out against prejudice
and violence? We discussed it very carefully with the company and that’s how
this came about,” RM added.

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When the donation was made the band had posted a simple
message on Twitter.

BTS maintained that they do not identify themselves as political.

“I don’t consider ourselves as political. I don’t want to
speak in political terms. Ours are initiatives that any person who wishes to
live in a just world would want to pursue. We aren’t trying to send out some
grandiose message,” Suga said.

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“It’s about us being against racism and violence. Most
people would be against these things. We have experienced prejudice as well
ourselves. We just want to voice the fact that we feel it’s the right of
everyone to not be subject to racism or violence,” he further added.

J-Hope said, “We always want to do what we can to make it a
better world, whether in Korea or elsewhere, and go in as much of a positive
direction as we can, whether through our music or charity.”