Southern Nevada, like much of the country, is struggling to come to terms with racial justice. The death of George Floyd was followed by dozens of protests in the streets of Las Vegas.

On 24th March 2015, Germanwings flight 9525 headed to Dusseldorf, Germany crashed into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board. Thousands around the world flooded social media to express their shock and grief, sending the hashtag #Germanwings to the No.1 trending spot on Twitter worldwide. Less than 24 hours after the crash, international sensation One Direction announced on Facebook that Zayn Malik was leaving the group after five years.

How the South Korean band’s fanbase – known as ARMY – raised over $1 million for the Black Lives Matter movement, mostly in just one day.

A whole generation have been “infantilised” and left without “self-sufficiency and intellectual independence” as a result of their parents’ failure to enforce boundaries, according to a new book by a leading sociology professor.

Amid Black Lives Matter protests in the United States, K-pop fans are being hailed as a new force in politics and social justice.

2020 is weird. There’s just no getting around it. Few would have believed that fans of Korean popular music were going to be a driving force behind fighting police brutality and white supremacy following the George Floyd protests. But that’s exactly what happened. Fans of the popular music genre are using their knowledge of online platforms to rally support for political causes and solicit donations.

The signs are that activism like that around Black Lives Matter is on the rise among Korean pop fans.

After claiming some credit for the fizzling of President Trump’s rally in Oklahoma, the online armies of Korean pop music listeners are feeling prepared and empowered.

THE BOOGALOO BOIS dress in Hawaiian shirts, stitch igloo patches on their clothes and bags, and spend their days slinging pro-gun memes back and forth on Reddit, Discord, and Facebook. They have also been linked to a plot to spark unrest at George Floyd protests in Las Vegas with firebombs, and to the deaths of two law enforcement officers in the Bay Area.

After shutting down a Dallas Police Department app and donating more than $1 million to the Black Lives Matter movement, it’s clear that K-pop fans are a legitimate force to be reckoned with. But this shouldn’t exactly be a surprise—fervent fan bases have always been particularly equipped to force change.

Data from LinkedIn suggests soft skills will be the most in-demand as the economy begins to rebuild and 2020 grads look for work.

Nicole Santero, a graduate student who runs the popular BTS fan account @researchBTS and is studying fan culture and BTS for her dissertation, says that the BTS fandom, for one, “regularly organizes and participates in charity efforts and service projects worldwide.”