“America has one wizarding school.” JKR, please. America spans nine time zones and we can’t even agree on whether there should be sugar in tea or what we should call those beverages made from carbonated flavored water.
Tag: ilvermorny
The one reason you shouldn’t support new HP
Now if you don’t care, okay. Go ahead and support it. But the new Harry Potter is literally the pinnacle of white appropriation.
But, you say, but Alicyn! It’s not! She’s honoring Native Americans!
No she isn’t. And let’s go over why.
-She isn’t using any creatures real name, she’s using English or made up names.
– She isn’t using any creatures real origin story.
– She is attributing each houses discovery to a white man. (I wanna kind remind ppl the Spanish and French were also in America.)
– Some of these creatures have sacred colors or names associated with them and they do not correlate to the colors JK Rowling chose.
– In fact, no Native American was consulted or asked and when they found out, the community was very barefaced about their outrage.So Alicyn what can I do?
-Don’t go see that movie that she’s making.
-Don’t get sorted in the new houses.
-Spread the real stories of these creatures instead of the white washed version.
-Encourage people not to make fan fiction based on it.But Alicyn! I don’t want to do those things.
Well, that’s fine too. But be aware that you are an active participant in the erasure of several cultures.
Please don’t let your hero worship of JKR (or your love of Harry Potter) make you an opponent to Native people trying to voice why Ilvermorny is problematic. Please, I’m begging you, just try to keep an open mind, be respectful, and listen to what Native readers are saying. If you’ve formed your opinions on Ilvermorny based entirely on things that white people have written, you are missing a critical perspective.
Here is a curated list of Native writings on Ilvermorny. I know Harry Potter means a lot to us, and I know it sucks to recognize that JKR may have really fucked up here, but you owe it to Native readers to at least hear their words before you brush them off.