8d • General discussion
BTS Made an Album About Howard University and Erased Black People From the Story
In March 2026, BTS dropped the animated teaser for their fifth studio album "Arirang" — inspired by a group of Korean students who attended Howard University in 1896. The visuals showed the Howard campus. Beautiful animation. No Black people in sight. At one of the most legendary HBCUs in America.
Let's be clear about what Howard University actually is. It wasn't built by Korean students who passed through in 1896. It was built by generations of Black students, Black faculty, Black alumni, and Black donors who turned it into an institution of power when America refused to grant them access anywhere else. You don't get to borrow that legacy, that prestige, that cultural weight — and then make Black people disappear from the frame.
The fan response was predictable. "Artistic vision." "It's about the Korean students' specific story." The usual gymnastics to keep the narrative clean. Howard students and alumni raised the issue — people who actually attend or attended that institution — and got the classic deflection: this isn't about you. Sit down.
That's the problem. Howard IS the story. You don't get to make a love letter to Howard University and act like the Black community that built it is invisible. That's not an oversight — that's a choice. And it's the same choice the industry makes over and over: take the institution, the sound, the aesthetic, the culture, and frame it like Black people were never in the room.
Discussion question: If BTS was genuinely honoring their connection to Howard, what would it actually look like to hold space for both the Korean students' story AND the Black legacy that makes Howard what it is — at the same time?
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BTS Made an Album About Howard University and Erased Black People From the Story
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