Race in HP

[catlady_de_los_angeles]

Original Yahoo! HPFG Header:
No: HPFGUIDX C6533
From: catlady_de_los_angeles
Subject: Re: Race in HP
Reply To: [Yahoo! #6529] Race in HP
Date: 8/10/00 4:12 pm  (ET)

> The introduction of Cho Chang and I am assuming that the Patil twins
are of Middle Eastern descent.

Patil is a South Asian name (I think that's what you meant) and the
parents are likely to be Hindus, or at least not Muslims, as Parvati
and Padma both are names of Hindu goddesses.

> I am hoping that more races are introduced. Have any Spanish or black
characters been introduced that I missed?

I guess there will have to be a FAQ on racial diversity in HP. In Book
1, we were told that Dean Thomas is "a Black boy even taller than Ron"
(and a Muggle-born fan of West Ham Muggle soccer football team) and that
Lee Jordan has dreadlocks. Book 4 specified that Lee Jordan is black
and Gryffindor Chaser Angelina Johnson is black. They had been in three
books before their skin color was mentioned.

Seamus Finnigan is a token Irish and a "Zabini, Blaise" was Sorted into
Slytherin in Book 1, a token Italian-Brit.

I haven't noticed any Hispanic surnames, which may be because Latinos are
scarcer in UK than in US. However, US news keeps talking about Latinos
named Bill Richardson (Secretary of Energy) and George P. Bush (George
W's nephew), so who's to say that Terry Boot and Mandy Brocklehurst
are Latino/a?

The lack I noticed is of students with Muslim names.