Today the world got its first look at Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play. She's married to Ron Weasley, has a daughter named Rose, and, by the way, happens to be Black. It really doesn't make any impact on the storyline, but some Slytherins people are still up in arms about the casting of Noma Dumezweni over an Emma Watson-esque English rose type anyway.
J.K. Rowling herself has pointed out in the past that she never specified that Hermione was white in the books. Amidst the outcry flooding social media, however, is this voice of reason. (Incidentally, this appears to be a Twitter fan page not associated with either of the actual Carver twins, actors Max and Charlie.)
White people complaining about Hermione being black yet none of you said a word when Lavender was whitewashed. Okay.. ??
— ° (@carvertwin) June 1, 2016
What's Lavender Brown got to do with it? It's perhaps fitting that the Potter character has a name with two colors in it, as both Black and white actresses played her in the films.
Black child actress Jennifer Smith played the then-minor character of Brown in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Brown's storyline eventually took her from random background Gryffindor to Ron Weasley's love interest, at which point the role was recast with white actress Jessie Cave. Cave played Brown in The Half-Blood Prince and The Deathly Hallows.
If it was okay to change Lavender's race back then, why isn't it okay to change Hermione's now? So long as she's portrayed as the clever know-it-all we all know and love, who cares?
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