race [book differences?] (WAS Dean Thomas and Re: book differences - Lilies)

[cherrybrainfreezie]

No: HPFGUIDX 40307

I don't think it's a case of political correctness being shoved down
our throats -- in fact, I think that JKR's merely being descriptive.
If we know exactly what even the most minor character looks like, we
get a more vivid sense of the world. And, in comparison to most of the
students in a British boarding school, the most striking descriptive
point about a black student would no doubt happen to be that they
happen to be black. (note the use of the word "happen"; as a suburban
white guy, it is required by law that I don't say "he's black" but
instead "he happens to be black." :)  )  

Parvati, Cho Chang, etc... in their cases, well, frankly, their names
give away a lot of what they can be expected to look like. And that's
not racism, that's just a learned response. An Asian name would likely
lead you to believe that the owner of the name was of Asian descent.
Logic, right? Whereas the name "Dean Thomas", for example, isn't
particularly indicative of anything in the same way that, perhaps, the
name "Lyombe Eko" would have been (Lyombe Eko was my Mass. Comm
professor. He had undoubtably the coolest accent I've ever heard). 

Now, if Cho had been named "Rosanne Holaday" or something, and the
image in JKR's mind was that of a young Asian girl, then she would no
doubt tell us just that. 

~andy, who really hates those people who just show up in Web forums
and  jump right into ongoing conversations like they know what they're
talking about and pick fights with the regulars and -- what was that?
but i haven't got a mirror!