Critics of a black Hermione are boring agents of white supremacy

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According to the Los Angeles Times, a black actress will play a grown up Hermione Granger in a stage performance of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”.

Noma Dumezweni, an English actress who was born in Swaziland, has been cast as Hermione, with Jamie Parker playing Harry and Paul Thornley as Ron Weasley. The play takes place 19 years after the end of the books, with Harry as a father of three children and an employee of the Ministry of Magic.

Potter creator J.K. Rowling has expressed enthusiastic approval because, as far as I can tell, she is not a terrible human being.

Unfortunately, according to Jezebel (and apparent to anyone who checks out the #hermione hashtag on Twitter):

As usual, the news spurred a handful of fans to whine and investigate whether the casting is legit (although at this point it’s likely mostly a larger group of advocates reacting to a small number of idiots).

Even if a small contingent, it still strikes me as unbelievably sad and pathetic that this is something some are up-in-arms about.

As Keidra Chaney expressed on Twitter:

This whole Hermione thing is not at all about “protecting canon” but about protecting the idea of default whiteness in fiction/media.

If only these nerds would only focus their energies on something other than upholding the aesthetics of white supremacy. What future they’re working toward? Being able to tell their grand kids that you kept a fictional character white?

If you’re going to be a martyr for white supremacy, at least be interesting. Nail yourself to a cross and set it on fire.

 

 

Alex Steed

About Alex Steed

Alex Steed has written about and engaged in politics since he was an insufferable teenager. He has run for the Statehouse and produced a successful web series. He now runs a content firm called Knack Factory with two guys who are a lot more talented than himself.