Thoughts about Racism in HP (LONG)

[darrin_burnett]

No: HPFGUIDX 102246

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Barbara D. Poland-Waters" <bd-
bear at v...> wrote:

> At first glance, the prejudice that is shown by some of the 
Slytherins and pure-bloods towards Muggles and Mudbloods seems a 
clear metaphor for racism.
> Certainly in the United States there has been a very similar type of
> discrimination and bias against blacks for centuries. Or it may be 
that a better analogy would be Hitler's view of Jews and his desire 
to "purify" what he thought was the superior race.

I think that's EXACTLY what the Muggles/Mudbloods in the books mean, 
but I think you have a "but" coming, so I will continue... :)



> But then I think more about this and I think that at least in the 
WW, they started out with good reason to think as they do of Muggles. 
We've been told about the persecution of witches and the need for the 
WW to protect themselves and hide themselves. And the Dursleys are a 
very good example of the types of Muggles that witches and wizards 
wouldn't want to know about them, as the Dursleys think anything 
magical is sick, wizards and witches are sick, it's unnatural, etc. I 
can easily see the Dursleys involved in a lynch party, basing their 
opinions, as they do, on something they don't understand at all but 
>rather fear.

I will grant that around the founding of Hogwarts, around 1000, the 
idea of teaching muggle-borns was probably pretty revolutionary. I 
believe Godric Gryffindor was on the right side of history and 
Salazar Slytherin the wrong side, but I also can understand why 
Salazar felt the way he did. (Still don't know about that basilisk, 
though, Sal. A tad much, don't you think?)

But it's 1,000 years later.

Anyway, it is true that certain types of Muggles would have real 
problems if they knew wizards and witches were there.

>So in one sense, the prejudice that developed may have started out 
from a rational fear of persecution. 

A rational fear of discovery is fine. Taking precautions when dealing 
with Muggle parents of wizards is definitely reasonable.

Prejudice, however, is irrational. I'd go so far as to call it an 
irrational hatred.

There seem to be a lot more Muggle families like the Grangers and the 
Creeveys than there are the Dursleys. 

The problem is, the Slytherins don't espouse keeping out muggle borns 
because of danger. Men like Lucius would never admit such fear and 
are probably too arrogant to feel it.

They espouse it because they see it as unpure. As not being from a 
proper wizarding family. Draco's first question to Harry is "What's 
your surname?"

And the actions in the campground in GoF are certainly not based out 
of fear of discovery.

The prejudice is still there. And it's not just from the Slytherins. 
Fudge's ministry has a glass ceiling for Muggle-lovers like Arthur.

>While Blacks and Jews certainly have reason to be cautious because 
of each groups history of persecution, I don't think the  same type 
of large factions have developed (similar to the DEs/Slytherins-we-
know) who have such a widespread bias against their former oppressors 
(not that there aren't smaller groups of these people, I'm just 
comparing them with the whole pure-blood mindset in WW), nor do I 
think they have ever grown to a large enough group overall to be a 
threat to non-Jews or non-Blacks the way the DEs/Slytherins-we-know
> have targeted Muggles and Mudbloods. 

I don't think you can quite call Muggles "oppressors" of Wizards. 
That might be because they haven't gotten the chance, but we know 
that, in JKR's world, witch burning was completely pointless. We know 
that Hogwarts is protected through spells.

The point is, how much danger is in the modern world, since the 
Ministry of Magic has had centuries to really get the "hide from the 
Muggles" (or "Masquerade," to steal from White Wolf's Vampire game) 
in place.


So in thinking all this, I was
> wondering if JKR actually did have some time of modern equivalent 
in mind for the pure-bloods and the Muggles. . .perhaps I don't know 
my history well enough to spot it.

Do I think it's a direct parallel for Hitler and the Jews and, in 
general, anti-semitism? Perhaps not perfectly, but I think the clues 
are there. I think the pureblood doctrine is frighteningly similar 
to "the Master Race." I think Draco and Lucius and Narcissa are an 
Aryan wet dream. I think the "fear of persecution" is similar to what 
a lot of anti-Semitism is based on, the stereotype of the Jewish 
moneylender.

Hitler gave the Germans someone to blame for their economy. The Jews. 
The "Muggles will come and get us if we let too many know about 
Hogwarts" routine is pretty similar to that, in my opinion.

Give people someone to blame for their troubles and get out of the 
way. That's how you create hatred. 


> I was also thinking, and I'm not sure this is related to racism, if 
it is> still as necessary for the WW to hide itself. Since the WW 
branched out and> intermingled with Muggles, more non-magic folk 
should know about witchcraft> and wizardry. Although many Muggles are 
still kept in the dark, there are> the few here and there who know 
about the WW and approve. Take Lily's> parents. Petunia mentioned 
they were proud when she got her letter (making> me actually wonder 
if there is more going on there- -did they actually know> magic 
existed beforehand, and if so, was there actually a witch or wizard 
in> their family before Lily?). And Hermione's parents certainly seem 
supportive> of her. It's similar to how interracial couples have 
biracial children who> are then (hopefully) more tolerant of both 
races because they are part of both. And people in their families who 
love and support them should also be> more open-minded just for 
having them in their lives. (This is certainly my> hope as my husband 
is black and I am white and I am hoping the increase in> interracial 
couples will over time create a greater awareness that we are> all 
just people, no matter the color of our skin. . . but I digress.) So> 
shouldn't there be Muggle families who have a witch or wizard in the 
family and so they lose whatever prejudice or fears they have had? 
Shouldn't the> knowledge about the WW be spreading, however slowly, 
through the Muggle world, since they are interbreeding?
> 


I kind of answered this earlier, with the question about how 
necessary it is to protect oneself. I'm sure precautions are taken.

A question I've always wondered is. What if a Muggle family refuses 
to allow their child to go to Hogwarts? Maybe they are like the 
Dursleys, or maybe the father had 16 generations of his family go to 
Eton and just refuses to allow his son to go anywhere else?

What do McGonagall and D-Dore do then? It would seem parents still 
have the right to keep their children from there, much the same way 
parents of a child who is 12 and scores 1600 on the SAT (a perfect 
score for a college aptitude test, for our international friends) 
don't HAVE to send that kid to college right away.

Darrin