Global K-Pop sensation BTS closed out Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month today with its first visit to the White House. The group joined press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at a briefing—an event that’s part of the Biden Administration’s response to combating Asian hate crimes in the U.S. “It’s not wrong to be different,” one of the group’s members, Suga, said during the event. “I think equality begins when we open up and embrace all of our differences.”
“People of all communities within the greater API movement should come out in full force to say, we’re not going to take this,” Manjusha Kulkarni, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, a non-profit that tracks hate and discrimination against Asians in the U.S., recently told TIME. “We are Americans, just like everyone else. We may not speak English in the same way. We may eat food that’s different at home. We may worship in different venues, but we are still American.”
