Disturbing title could increase racial taunts

The title of J.K. Rowling's latest addition to the Harry Potter series has probably caused many people concern and none more so than those of mixed-race.

Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince gives the impression that the author is having a dig at those with more than one racial background.

In Harry Potter, the term is supposed to mean 'half magic', and implies that one half does not mingle with the other. The similarity to racial terms is somewhat disturbing and could lead to a resurgence of racial taunts such as half-breed and half-caste, which were beginning to diminish in favour of more agreeable terms such as multiracial, biracial or mixed-race.

You can purchase a parody t-shirt with the caption 'Hairy Pawter and the Half-Breed Prince and 'Numerous posts on Harry Potter websites also slip between '- blood' and '- breed.'

Rowling does well to explore the subject of otherness with children in the book and lets us know that demands for 'purity' in bloodlines come from evil people.

However, even with Rowling's work there will still be a rise in the amount of racial taunts mixed-race children receive as a result of her use of such terminology. We can only hope the positive messages will bring about a huge wave of multiracial acceptance that will far outweigh any negative response.

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Source: Tolerance.org