Harry Potter Does Racism
So okay, Harry isn’t racist, but he sure does tackle racism over the span of multiple books! The first time we’re really clued into wizarding world racism is in book 2, when Draco Malfoy calls Hermione Granger a mudblood (chapter 7 if you’re reading along). Let me lay out the scene for you. If you’ll please turn to page three-hundred-and-ninety-four. Just kidding, it’s pages 141–146:
Draco: “Nobody asked your opinion, you filthy little mudblood” (145)
Ron, probably, defending all things that are good: Eat slugs you git! *forgets he has a broken wand because his life is NOT together*
Ron’s wand: lol no
Draco: unharmed, but still a git
Ron: belching slugs
Hermione, probably: I know I’m offended, but why exactly this time?
Harry: …I’m a wot?
And there you have it.
The gist: Ron is the only one of the golden trio who knows what a mudblood is. To be honest, we aren’t too surprised Harry doesn’t know because he’s a sad lil’ orphan (and also pretty thick for being The Chosen One if we’re being honest). Hermione is muggle born, and so she’s probably only read half the library by second year, and she doesn’t know either. Plus who lets an eleven year old read books with racial slurs? Oh wait. We do.
Why is this important? Because Draco and Ron are the only two purebloods in the scene. Pureblood = privilege. The anology doesn’t completely translate, but thinking loosely, purebloods are safe from racism. They don’t experience it. So, ding ding ding! White people. Because reverse racism isn’t even real in a magical world, let alone this one. Half-bloods are also pretty safe from racism as seen in book 7, where Voldypants goes on a Hitler-esque terror, but we’ll get to that later.
The point is that in a world where wizarding racism seems gone, it can be brought back so easily by the ones with privilege. Draco has pureblood supremacy taught to him by his father, Luscious Locks. On page 64, Lucious Malfoy says to Draco, “I would have thought you’d be ashamed that a girl with no wizard family beat you in every exam.” He belittles Draco by using Hermione’s blood status to put him down. His own son. If Hermione, a muggle born, beats Draco, a pureblood, on tests, that means Draco needs to feel ashamed because she is inherently inferior than him. Sound familiar at all? No? Think about racial stereotypes. How about now?
Additionally, the more people with power spout racist beliefs, the more emboldened racists become. Does this seem familiar? That’s because it is! Not only does Voldemort’s return to a human-ish body encourage guys with hoods to start murdering innocent people, but that’s exactly what happens when say a racist man with a bad tan takes control of a country. The similarities are astounding, especially when you stop and realize that J.K. Rowling meant this all to refelct on Hitler and the Nazis. Some simple math for you:
Hitler + Nazis = Voldemort + Deatheaters = Trump + KKK
There. I said it. This country has always had a background of white supremacy and racism. Always. Look at the foundation of America: a bunch of rich white guys started an independant nation on the backs of slaves and stolen Native American land. And before them? Christopher Columbus and all those cool explorer guys did the exact same thing. So it is no surprise (and yet still absolutely horrifying) that with the encouragement of the federal government, we have incidents like Charlottseville. So of course, under an administration that promised hatred, we are getting a whole lot of hatred.
There is so much more to be said about both racism in Harry Potter and our society, but I’ll leave it here for today.
If this is a new perspective for you, a couple things to think about:
- I’m glad you’re reading. It’s our duty to educate ourselves and I hope to be a bridge of thought between wonder and seeking out more information.
- Why has it taken me, a small white girl, to bring this to your attention?
*All page citations in this post come from the 2002 Scholastic mass market paperback version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling.
