OMG YES TO ALL OF THIS!!! I actually wrote half a post today on this exact same topic, but I was having a difficult time really expressing myself and finding some of the examples. I think you said everything much better. Because I love the idea of Black!Hermione, and I really do think that there are so many awesome headcanons for POC!Hemrion. But that tweet by JKR kind of annoyed me, because it seemed like JKR wasn't really taking ownership of the fact that she didn't do great with representation. Kind of like getting credit for something that I genuinely believe she didn't intend, and that I think would have altered how the character was written if it had been intended. Not to mention the fact that (as far as I remember) JKR seemed to mention in the books when a character was non-white or when they were in some way other, like Veela or giant. OH just read your notes, yes, you mention that. :)
One of my fav authors Maggie Stiefvater recently posted about a similar issue on tumblr when she noticed that a lot of people would draw the main characters from her recent series, and they would frequently only race-bend Ronan, who is the angry fighter kid. I like this point especially "When the fandom continually racebends Ronan and only Ronan, you’re giving me credit for representation that isn’t there; people coming from the outside believe that POC Ronan is canon. Please: Point out that the books are white. Keep holding me to better writing"
I love JKR's books (obviously) and I generally like her politics and how she uses her world to support them, but sometimes I feel like she uses her work to support (excellent) ideals that I don't necessarily see reflected in what she canonically wrote. Like with POC!Hermione, who'd race would affect her more than just by changing her skin tone. And with "The Wizarding World doesn't care about homosexuality" which would have been more believable if there'd been a single canon mention of any type of queer character inside the books.
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One of my fav authors Maggie Stiefvater recently posted about a similar issue on tumblr when she noticed that a lot of people would draw the main characters from her recent series, and they would frequently only race-bend Ronan, who is the angry fighter kid. I like this point especially "When the fandom continually racebends Ronan and only Ronan, you’re giving me credit for representation that isn’t there; people coming from the outside believe that POC Ronan is canon. Please: Point out that the books are white. Keep holding me to better writing"
I love JKR's books (obviously) and I generally like her politics and how she uses her world to support them, but sometimes I feel like she uses her work to support (excellent) ideals that I don't necessarily see reflected in what she canonically wrote. Like with POC!Hermione, who'd race would affect her more than just by changing her skin tone. And with "The Wizarding World doesn't care about homosexuality" which would have been more believable if there'd been a single canon mention of any type of queer character inside the books.