Standing Up: From the Grammys to Climate Justice
- Climate Hope
- 20 hours ago
- 4 min read
At Gillette Stadium, surrounded by thousands of ARMY light sticks, we carried two signs.
One reads:
“Music has no borders. Thank you BTS for standing up to the Grammys.”
The other borrowed words from BTS’ “Aliens”:
“Yeah, we land on it / And stand on it / 찍어 put that stamp on it.”
The message we brought into the stadium was bigger than one band, one award show or one moment.
When BTS announced that they would not submit ARIRANG for the 2027 Grammy Awards following the Recording Academy’s introduction of a Best Asian Pop Music Performance category, they entered a much longer conversation about race, music and who gets to decide where artists belong. And it is important to remember who helped make that conversation possible.
Black Artists Paved the Way
In 1989, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (aka Jeff Townes and Will Smith) joined Salt-N-Pepa, Public Enemy, Ice-T and others in boycotting the Grammys after the newly created Best Rap Performance category was excluded from the televised ceremony.
While DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince won that first award, their refusal to attend the ceremony asked a bigger question: If Black music was important enough to recognize, why wasn't it important enough to be seen?
Black artists have continued challenging the industry's boundaries. Tyler, the Creator questioned why Black artists making genre-defying music were so often placed into “rap” or “urban” categories. The Weeknd stopped submitting his music after being shut out of the 2021 nominations.
They showed generations of artists that being recognized by an institution does not mean you cannot challenge it.
BTS Stands on It
That history matters as BTS challenges how Asian artists are categorized by the Grammys.
Although the experiences of Black American and Korean artists are not the same, solidarity means recognizing those who pushed against racial barriers before us and the space their resistance created for others to speak up.
Our signs were one small way of saying: We see that history. And we stand with artists asking for something better.
Racial Justice = Climate Justice
What does this have to do with climate?
Climate justice is about more than carbon. It is about power: who gets heard, who makes decisions and which communities bear the greatest burdens.
Black communities have disproportionately faced pollution and environmental hazards, which is why racial justice and climate justice cannot be separated. For example:
Formerly redlined, predominantly Black neighborhoods in the U.S. are 5 to 12°F hotter during summer heat events than nearby non-redlined neighborhoods, increasing residents' exposure to dangerous heat, according to research reported in 2026. [political.org], [medicaldaily.com]
In January 2026, over 1.5 million people in Jamaica were affected by Hurricane Melissa, and 279,000 people remained displaced more than ten weeks later. [reliefweb.int], [directrelief.org]
OCHA reported that climate-related floods across Southern Africa affected more than 2.36 million people in early 2026, while 13.2 million people faced acute food insecurity following successive droughts and flooding. [unocha.org], [unocha.org]
At the same time, Black people are also leading the way on climate solutions both in the U.S. and around the world. For instance:
In the U.S., the NAACP's Center for Environmental and Climate Justice, led by Abre' Conner, is holding polluters accountable, challenging harmful AI data center development in Black communities, and strengthening disaster resilience and clean energy policies. [naacp.org]
Jamaica's hurricane recovery strategy focused on renewable energy, climate-smart agriculture, green jobs, and community resilience, demonstrating how a majority-Black nation is rebuilding stronger while adapting to climate change. [news.funds...orngos.org], [un-dco.org]
On the continent of Africa, leaders advanced continent-wide climate leadership through Mission 300, which aims to expand clean energy access to 300 million Africans by 2030, positioning Africa as a leader in linking climate action with economic development and energy justice. [linkedin.com], [africancentre.org]
Different systems. A shared question:
Who gets valued, and who gets pushed to the margins?
Meet Borim Kim
In South Korea, activist Borim Kim and Youth 4 Climate Action helped win the first successful youth-led climate litigation in Asia.
In 2024, South Korea's Constitutional Court ruled that the government's climate policy failed to adequately protect the constitutional rights of future generations and required legally binding emissions reduction targets for 2031 through 2049.
Borim didn't treat the lawsuit as something belonging only to lawyers. Youth 4 Climate Action collected testimony from 5,200 people, bringing ordinary people's experiences of the climate crisis directly into the case.
In 2026, she received the Goldman Environmental Prize for Asia.
Her story reminds us that climate leadership doesn't have to come from the world's most powerful countries or institutions.
Sometimes change comes from the people demanding a place on the stage.
Solidarity Means Remembering Who Came Before
So when we carried “Music Has No Borders” into Gillette Stadium, we were not only celebrating BTS. We were also carrying a message shaped by generations of artists and climate justice activists who refused to accept that race should determine which room their work belongs in.
From Black artists challenging the Grammys to young people challenging governments on climate change, progress has often begun with people asking: Why should we accept a system that wasn't built to hear us?
The histories are different. The lesson travels.
Stand on it. Speak about it. Put that stamp on it.
Because music and climate justice has no borders.
What You Can Do
Standing in solidarity starts with understanding the history that made today's conversations possible. Here are a few ways to turn this moment into action:
💜 Subscribe to the ClimateHope.us newsletter (scroll to the bottom) to get updates on racial justice and climate justice
💜 Follow @BTSARMY4Earth for BTS, climate justice and fan-powered action.
💜 Follow and support the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice campaigns.
💜 Learn from the UN Jamaica Multi-Country Office How Jamaica is Rebuilding Without Losing Ground on Development.
💜 Learn from Global South climate leaders. Start with Borim Kim and Youth 4 Climate Action, then seek out organizers in the communities already experiencing the climate crisis firsthand.
Because fandom can be more than something we belong to.
Music has no borders. Climate justice shouldn't either. And sometimes, you have to stand on it.
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