Diversity in Media and Literature (WAS No Subject)

[aldrea279]

No: HPFGUIDX 40714

Monica:
>>I also find it sad that 
everyone is making such a big deal about this. Why is it wrong to say 
that Dean Thomas is Black but it is okay to say that Ron has red 
hair.>>

Well, I think the ruffled feathers mainly come from the fact that 
Dean Thomas's race was added into there just for us PC Americans. But 
that doesn't bother me that much. Amanda basically summed up the 
only "wrongness" that I an really see pretty well:

>>For me, what bothers me more is that "Black" is capitalized; I'd 
rather it
be a simple descriptive noun. "Hispanic," "Mexican," and "Latino" are 
all
capitalized by virtue of their derivation from proper nouns, 
but "black" is
not so derived, and capitalizing it changes it somehow. For some 
reason
"black" reads like a description for me, and "Black" as a label. It 
puts
distance in; I don't like it.>>

*nods* Well said.  That's really the only "wrongness" I can see in 
it, other than the extremely FLINT-y way they stuck it in there.  
When I first read the book(and that wasn't all -that- long ago, I 
admit), I wondered why black was capitalized.  I just figured it was 
either a typing boo-boo or maybe a British thing and moved on, 
though.  But that is what made Dean's race stick out in my mind- 
which could have been why it was capitalized in the first place.

Andrea:
>>My view of Hogwarts as a whole is multi-racial. But whenever 
individual
students are first introduced, my default way of thinking of them is
white, unless something indicates otherwise.>>

That's basically the way I see it, also.  I know every student there 
isn't white, but my first thought when one is introduced is that they 
are- unless they mention in a nice, Capitalized way that they aren't. 
=P

Aldrea, who thinks changing that one letter in her name might result 
in some confusion. =P