Well I would counter that with saying that is more an argument that we need more authors writing books with powerful black characters in it. Which is different from trying to pretend white characters are actually black, which if anything furthers the problem you are describing imo (i.e the only way to get a black heroine is through willful twisting of the facts to pretend a white person is black? Thats not very empowering).

You have me on your side that theres a problem, but not with your solution. You need a bottom up solution not a top down so to speak.

Its the same thing someone was talking about earlier in regards to portrayals of vikings or middle-ages europe or Rome. The issue isnt why are the people there portrayed as white (they should be) but why is all the fiction based in that setting as opposed to say in Ancient India, or Mali etc. The solution isnt to pretend there were significant black folks sailing with the vikings. Its to also create interesting fiction in other settings.


In terms of the hermoine thing in general. I think i'm essentially with Taure I think it was. Ive no issue if you want to imagine Hermoine as black I suppose. Or write a fanfic with her as black. I mean its no more out there than people writing about harry getting pregnant, turning straight characters gay, making Harry a vampire elf who is descended from Merlin, or anything else fanfic cooks up. Hell it could with a good writer even be an interesting concept. But there's a difference between visualizing her one way for a story, and trying to twist the original books around to pretend she was ACTUALLY characterized as a different race. One can be an interesting intellectual exercise or a statement/point.... the other is intellectually dishonest.