Purity of Bloodline

[Ebony Elizabeth]

No: HPFGUIDX 2405

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Sister Mary Lunatic" <klaatu at p...> 
wrote:
"As far as your last question goes, Alix (about how far back Muggle 
blood is traced) -- bigotry varies according to region and 
upbringing.  There are some areas of the USA where you are considered 
to be of the Negro race if even ONE of your great-grandparents had 
Negro blood.  This is not considered a good thing in those areas of 
the country.  Bigotry, pure and simple and wrong.  On the other hand, 
many people BRAG about being 1/16th American Indian ancestry.  Why it 
is considered intriguing to have a tiny bit of Native American blood 
and NOT intriguing to have a tiny bit of African-American blood is 
one of the great puzzles of the untutored brain."

Good observation, Sister Mary.  One of the major themes in early 
African-American literature is the notion of "passing" into the 
dominant culture.  This occurred due to the negative implications of 
having African ancestry that continue to this day.  Not too long ago 
I dated another young colleague who is African American but looks 
Italian--interesting experience.  He told me that several of his 
family members are passing as "white".  In America.  In the year 2000.

The reasons for the prevalence of the "tragic mulatto" theme in these 
early writings are obvious.  Until a couple of generations ago, most 
members of the privileged class of African-American society had more 
European or Native American ancestry than African.  I'm not a 
sociologist, but I've noted from informal study that you see this 
theme in many postcolonial societies the world over that have dealt 
with the sociocultural obstacles inherent in integrating a class of  
persons who were systematically enslaved and subjugated into 
mainstream society.  Not a culture on this planet has fully overcome 
these obstacles yet.  Not even America.

This discussion of "purity of bloodlines" always brings to mind two 
questions with corresponding observations.  1)  Almost all of the 
normal blood I've ever seen is a shade of red--no matter who it comes 
from.  What exactly *is* pure blood?  3)  The notion of race is a 
relatively modern construct invented for a specific purpose.  What 
*is* race?

*This* is why I appreciate Orson Scott Card's novel *Pastwatch* so 
much.  He scratches the surface of an area of speculative fiction 
that has been largely ignored and does so with a sincerity *and* 
empathy that is rarely seen within the dominant culture.  Most of my 
own creative writing is either historical fiction or speculative 
fiction that negotiates these same questions.  I've *known* about the 
implications of race and culture all my life--my passion ever since I 
can remember has been a binary search for origins of and logical 
predictions regarding the above questions.

*This* is also why I'm not a Slytherin sympathizer.  Snape and Draco 
are fascinating to me from a writer's POV.  However, I must say that 
the canonical Draco is not one of my top five favorite HP 
characters.  I don't care *what* his reasons--by the end of GoF, he 
is 14/15 and still determined to follow in his father's bigoted 
footsteps.  My students do an excellent job juxtaposing Draco's anti-
Mudblood stance and their own cultural experiences.  The fact that 
they'll be doing HP this year right after *Number the Stars* should 
only heighten this effect.

--Ebony