Justin Bieber rejected the idea of being a “white saviour” as he spoke about the reason he created the “MLK Interlude” for his latest album Justice.
Kristal Terrell, one of the co-founders of Bieber Nation, the first Bieber-dedicated club on Clubhouse, questioned the singer about his number one LP in his first-ever Clubhouse room on Tuesday.
When asked how he thought his music could play a role in social advocacy, Bieber, who included two MLK speech clips on his album, shared: “Being Canadian… they didn’t teach us about Black history. It was just not a part of our education system,” Billboard reported.
“I think for me, coming from Canada and being uneducated and making insensitive jokes when I was a kid and being insensitive and being honestly just a part of the problem because I just didn’t know better.
“For me to have this platform to just share this raw moment of Martin Luther King in a time where he knew he was going to die for what he was standing up for.”
The star said he was willing to put up with “as much hate by putting that on the album,” and rejected the idea of being a “white saviour” trying to solve injustices.
The musician said, instead, his goal was to “amplify” MLK’s “incredibly, touching speech.”
"I was willing to go through as much hate by putting that on the album because I know there's a bigger purpose. I'm not trying to be a white saviour. My heart is just to amplify Martin Luther King's voice."
– #JustinBieber on why he opens "Justice" with an MLK clip pic.twitter.com/CYVY3tvTyP— David Friend (@dfriend) March 31, 2021
Bieber continued, “I want to keep growing and learning about just all social injustices and what it looks like for me to be better, what it looks like for my friends to be better. And I know I have a long way to go. I love that when people are listening to my album, these conversations are coming up and they’re like, ‘Well, how is he going from Martin Luther King into a love song?'”
“I’m not trying to make a connection between me and Martin Luther King. That’s why I never try to talk about social injustice or I didn’t want to be the one to talk about it because I just have so much more learning to do. But I have this man who was ready to die and what he believed to be true. If I’m not willing to face some sort of ridicule or judgment of people wondering my motives or whatever that is, for me, it was a no brainer.”
Bernice King, MLK’s daughter, recently praised Bieber on Twitter, posting:
Each of us, including artists and entertainers, can do something.
Thank you, @justinbieber, for your support, in honor of #Justice, of @TheKingCenter’s work and of our #BeLove campaign, which is a part of our global movement for justice. #MLK #EndRacism https://t.co/nTkR1XdcvW
— Be A King (@BerniceKing) March 18, 2021
