#representation: biracial

[writingwithcolor]

Representing Biracial Black South American Experiences…Through a White/Asian Mixed Race Character in Europe

@colombinna asked:

I have a YA story that's in very early development - pre-alpha, if you will. For now what I have developed is the characters: one of the MCs is a biracial asian queer girl (her dad is thai-american and japanese, her mom's white), she has a medium/dark brown skin, and lives in a very white context in a fictional European country. The contact she has with her extended family is limited to phone calls and regular visits because her dad moved from the US to said fictional European country.

I'm a biracial black queer girl myself, living in a very white community in South America, my extended black family also lives in a different place, and I'm taking a lot of my experiences of being not white and queer whilst living in white communities into her story (the feeling of not belonging, the impostor syndrome, standing out as one of the only POC kids in class, etc) and thinking back to what I've heard asian friends and classmates say about their experiences in the same school/community context as mine. But I want to know how different her experiences as a dark-skinned asian girl would differ from mine and my friends' in a similar context (white community, small number of other asian people - and POC in general - in the social circles, and limited contact to her extended family), and what experiences could make sense if the character was biracial black like myself, but won't if she's biracial asian.

Why not write a biracial Black girl if those are the experiences you want to represent? 

This MC is straddling, like, 3 different cultures. Having multiple immigrant identities in not-Europe is not the same experience as being Black in South America; while both are complex minority experiences, there are too many differences in intersections and histories to compare. Not to mention, it really depends on what European culture(s) you’re basing your not-Europe on. 

I think you’ll find that the written result will ring much more genuine and rich in depth if you either translate your experiences more directly or pick a more narrow focus, instead of assuming that there is a universal for racism and colorism against biracial people that is transferable across contexts. Because there isn’t. There can be overlaps, but if you’re looking to cover the entire range of What It’s Like in general, it won’t work.

This isn’t to say that people can’t use other identities to write about specific experiences of their own, but in this case you need to think about what story you want to tell and what your reasons are. Marika’s commentary will go more into when and how this can be done effectively. 

Also, if the point is to make her a dark-skinned Asian, as a white/asian mix myself, I implore you: why must you make her 1/4 Japanese and 1/2 white? Even with the Thai ethnicity thrown in, Thai people very much range in skin tone and have their own domestic issues with colorism. It’s not impossible for dark-skinned examples of your MC’s ethnic makeup to exist, but still I don’t recommend it for two reasons: 

It's going to make researching people whose experiences fit that much more difficult. Most experiences of colorism, othering, and other forms of discrimination that mixed white asians tend to face are completely different from mixed race asians who tend to have darker skin & features.

There's enough Japanese & white mixed Japanese rep in the Asian rep sphere as is. Consider that this individual could be mixed Asian (not Japanese) with something else (not white)! 

But again, think over your motivations. I’ll spare you the copy/paste of our Motivations PSA, but re-read it and consider. Why do you wish to write a mixed Asian character to tell the story of your experiences as a mixed Black individual instead of a mixed Black character? What does it add to the story? Is it an effective vessel for the experiences you want to convey? 

~ Rina

I think Rina brings up some good points here: I’m not hearing a lot of specificity in your query. As you doubtless know firsthand, the more intersectional and complex an identity, the more of a chance the identity may come with unexpected baggage and nuances that fly in the face of what is common sense for less intersectional identities. This can make writing such characters challenging just because there is so much choice on which identity themes to emphasize. 

I once spent about 15 minutes explaining to a person the thought process I used to determine when I could wear jeans depending on which country I was living in as a mixed race person who is perceived as different things in different places. It might seem trivial, but it’s actually very important to me for the purposes of identity, safety and gender presentation, so I personally think it’s interesting. But will my readers think a character’s multi-page internal monologue on whether or not to wear jeans is especially compelling? Does the writer-version of me want to research the version of myself musing on my specific jeans conundrum to that extent? Or do I want to talk about other things related to attire a lot of other people would relate to? I think those are all YMMV questions, but hopefully, they provide some perspective that will help you be intentional about how you might want to tackle something potentially very time-consuming.

When I say intentional, I mean that when covering a complex identity with which you are peripherally familiar, it will always be more effective and easier to use it to tell a specific story extremely clearly than to be extremely broad in scope and try to include almost everything about your own experiences, especially because some of those experiences might not be as relevant for your character’s background as they are to yours.      

One of my favorite childhood picture books is written and illustrated by a Nikkei writer-illustrator team. The book is titled Ashok by Any Other Name (link). The story features a desi child growing up in the US who wishes he had an American name his friends and teachers wouldn’t think was strange. It covers how being othered for his name makes him feel, and how he copes with that feeling. Speaking as someone both Japanese and desi, I think through the plot device of names perceived by the majority of Americans as foreign, this book aptly shows how many immigrant/diaspora creators are capable of relating to the pressures of assimilation experienced by other immigrant, even if the creator, the audience and the story’s subject’s backgrounds all don’t completely overlap 100%. 

There will be aspects of your Blackness, mixed identity, skin color, sexuality and living in a local community lacking diversity as a member of many minority groups that you will find resemble/ resonate with the experiences of mixed-race, Japanese individual in a Europe-themed setting, and I think any story that leans into those themes will be considerably easier for you to research. In other words, instead of asking us “How does my experience differ?” I would approach this issue by deciding what narrative you want to show about your own experience and then research the specific contexts within which your desired story overlaps with elements of mixed-race Japanese experiences. 

- Marika.

[ohdirtyriver]

something that's really meaningful to me about dead boy detectives is seeing charles as representation of being a multiracial teen in the 80s. it's not a major plot point, but it feels like a relevant undercurrent all throughout his characterization. at least in the US, being mixed race at that time felt like something that no one talked about and that you had to navigate basically on your own. to the degree that it was ever acknowledged, it tended to be about the black/white mixed experience - but i mean, this was a time when i had to suffer through long duk dong as the most visible example of an asian kid in a teen movie, so maybe not getting asian/white rep was a blessing in disguise.

i imagine charles feeling similarly to how i did - that being mixed was something to downplay, a personal family struggle that went on behind the scenes, just one more thing that made you not quite fit in anywhere. i'm super glad that teens today have it different.

[stickybasementobject]

Misconceptions:

You know it occurs to me that in today's world Boris Karloff would as a quarter Indian biracial actor probably be called woke casting? Not that this is a widely known fact. But in regards to him playing such roles as Jekyll and Hyde, Mycroft Holmes and nearly Cagliostro and Bluebeard. Don't believe me? Look at the reaction to actor Rupert Laight as Isaac Newton in Dr Who. Even in some more left-wing circles. It's coming to something when an ethnic actor gets less grief for such casting in the early twentieth century than one in the modern age?

I've also seen him wrongly described as a white actor doing yellow face as Fu Manchu. Not that such portrayals were ever forgivable of course. But another example of the fact that people are quite ignorant of racially mixed actors having had a presence in the history of media. Just look up the name Acquanetta as another example. See image below.

Just a few short words I wanted to get off my chest on the matter. (-;

[mysweetsinfulobsessions]

Storks (2016)

[namorthesubmariner]

“Namor was never white to begin with”: A look into Sub-Mariner comics, the Biracial Coding of Namor, the origins of the Atlanteans, Mutants, and the upcoming Live Action Namor

Many people who have followed me here, on twitter or my personal blog know that I have been very vocal about Namor being played by an Actor of Color for many years. I have written two major posts about this subject but also mention it in countless posts, meta, and discussions. Many of what you read here will be a repeat of that but I thought that I would gather everything into one post as well as talk about the casting of Tenoch Huerta as Namor in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

(Jan 9th, 2019 Meta Post / June 7th, 2021 twitter thread)

“guys Namor was never white to begin with”- Saladin Ahmed, Comic Writer (source)

continued below the cut~

Namor the Sub-Mariner was created in April 1939 by Bill Everett, and for everyone who looks at the surface aka Namor's pale skin, and declares him to be a white character please look closer. Namor has always been coded as a Biracial character of color. I know many people like to apply Modern concepts to older comics but we really need to understand comics within the context and time frame when they were written to fully understand the concept behind them.

Character Design

It’s 1939, there are many characters of color used in racist or stereotypical ways within comics, many older comics have racism and racist depictions. I am not excusing this but also the main focus of this meta is to explain why Namor isn’t white. I will be posting panels that showcase Namor and Atlanteans as being coded as "other" aka non white people or simply as a non white character. I personally believe they are coded as an indigenous/native people. This was written into the character since his first comic. If you want to point out how the colors shift and change, I would like to point out to you that back in the early days of comics, the colors were unreliable, reading this article will help you to better understand how they changed, Atlantis Blues.

The very first time we see Namor, his original character design by Bill Everett depicts Namor with an angular face, arched eyebrows, pointed ears, red hair, and blue toned skin. Nothing about this screams “all american blond haired, square jawed comic book hero” because Namor wasn’t that. From his very first depiction Namor was “Othered” by his red hair and feyish ears, not to mention his character was quickly established as morally grey, making him the oldest and first comic anti-hero, as well as the oldest coded bi-racial character due to his parents being of two different races. To be Othered is defined as: one considered by members of a dominant group as alien, exotic, threatening, or inferior (as because of different racial, sexual, or cultural characteristics). People of Color are often Othered by White people in real life and in fiction.

Why do I mention the red hair? Unlike today’s perception of red hair, history usually paints characters with red hair in a negative light, such things like the “Red Headed Step Child” trope existed within Namor who was treated as an outcast both among humans and ostracized within his own people. The Red Headed Step Child trope is defined as: A child whose coloring is different from the rest of the family, often calling the Mother and Child morals into question, in addition to mistreatment happening towards the child due to the belief it was born a Bastard. Namor’s hair would later be changed to a black color.

For a further look into Namor’s character design by Everett then read: “The Brillance of Bill Everett’s Sub-Mariner, Marvel’s Superman”.

So within the first page that Namor appears it’s clear that Everett has purposefully “Othered” Namor, a character who is born of a royal mother, Princess Fen, (a Submariner later Atlantean) and sea captain Leonard McKenzie (a human). A child born of the union of sea and earth. Duality is an important aspect for Namor’s character and essential to understanding his character. Namor is never one thing, he is always more.

From Submariners to Atlanteans

What is this? Fen is a Submariner? Why yes, all the characters and backstory that you know now and has been canon since the Silver Age were never Atlantean to begin with! Everett’s race for his original characters were all called “Submariners”, no hyphen, and they lived in the ocean near Antarctica. The very first mention of Atlantis and Namor’s claim to an Atlantean heritage comes from Sub-Mariner Comics (1941) #31 claims that Namor's people are descendants of Atlantis so that was in the Golden Age and far before Namor's reentery to comics in the Silver Age. Here is a timeline of events showing how Namor came to be Atlantean and a Mutant. I’m also including Aquaman’s origins since there is often misinformation among fans as to when exactly everything was revealed.

Golden Age

April 1939 - Namor is created by Bill Everett. (It is important to note that while Namor made his first public appearance in Marvel Comics #1, he was actually created in April 1939 for Motion Pictures Funnies Weekly, a comic that was never distributed.)

November 1939 - Namor is published in Marvel Comics (1939) #1, he is shown as the first superhero to fly under his own power due to the wings on his ankles, (source) and is the first aquatic superhero. Namor is the first anti-hero in Marvel Comics. It is established that Namor is the Half Human/Atlantean (Submariner) son of Princess Fen and Sea Captain Leonard McKenzie. Grandson to Emperor Tha-Korr. Namor is born a royal prince with duel heritage of the land and sea.

November 1941 - More Fun Comics #73 - Aquaman is published, and established to be the fully human son of a human scientist who found Atlantis and used it’s secret science to give his son the ability to breath underwater. Aquaman was never created as a half human/half atlantean character like Namor.

January 1949 - Sub-Mariner Comics (1941) #31 - The first time Namor mentions that he and his people are descendants of Atlantis.

May 1954 - Human Torch (1940) #38 - Marvel (Timely/Atlas) makes a sly reference that Namor is the “Original Aquaman”

February 1955 - Sub-Mariner Comics (1941) #38 - The Origin of Namor’s Ankle Wings is revealed, which makes me believe the inspiration for the X-Men’s mutantism comes from Namor. As the prototype mutant Namor’s story is very similar to how the X-Men mutants would later come into their powers. As a teen, Namor’s ankle wings manifested during a traumatic event where his life and his mother’s life was at stake, and using his wings he was able to fly them both to freedom.

Silver Age

May 1959 - Adventure Comics #260 - Retcons Aquaman into being the Half Human/Half Atlantean son of Lighthouse Keeper Tom Curry and Atlanna of Atlantis.

Fantastic Four (1961) #4 - Namor enters the Silver Age.

Fantastic Four (1961) Annual 1 published July 1963 -  Namor is the Human/Atlantean Prince of Atlantis, and also Marvel’s First Mutant. The X-Men are first published September 1963.

“The First Known Mutant”

And that is why Marvel calls Namor their “First Mutant” because he was in real world time the First Published Mutant. Later stories of characters like Apocalypse doesn’t change the fact that Namor is the First Mutant, and Marvel would often use it in their promotion and editorial, “Marvel’s First and Mightiest Mutant” & Namor: The First Mutant, arts by Jae Lee

And there you have it, the origin of Namor, his mutantism, and how Aquaman was created after Namor and later changed to be more like Namor, even casting an Actor of Color to portray the Aquaman who has always been white in the comics. I was never against the casting of Momoa, in fact I liked the Aquaman movie and am looking forward to the next one, but I did want to point out that Aquaman had been taking/borrowing elements of Namor’s character since the beginning.

The reason I bring this up is that many articles going around now are saying that Marvel changing Atlantis to Talocan to avoid it being too similar to Aquaman, but as you have seen it was always the opposite, Aquaman and Atlantis copied Namor. However I think it’s more that Coogler and the cast/crew of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever are bringing Namor back to his original roots, and are creating a world that makes sense for them for the movie so this choice has nothing to do with Aquaman.

Coding in Comics

Taken straight from the comics themselves, here are several examples as to why Namor is coded as a Biracial PoC character:

(As stated above; the color printing in comics in that era was not the best hence why Namor and Fen are blond, this is a remastered comic page keeping to the original colors)

Marvel Comics (1939) #1 / Sub-Mariner Comics 70th Anniversary(reprint/recolor)

Princess Fen explains why Atlanteans (then called Submariners) hate the white surface humans who hurt their home and people. Emperor Tha-Korr calls upon her to spy on the "White Monsters" thus establishing that Atlanteans do not see themselves the same as white humans. Fen is described as most closely resembling the female of the White Race, this has more to do with the fact that she looked more human than the males of her people, who looked more amphibious. (A fantasy/Scifi trope often used: Sexy Dimorphism )

"Go now to the land of the white people!" Fen says to her son, and so Namor goes, to wage war and Avenge his people.

This panel is not always shown in context, but it is also from the first issue. Namor & Dorma make trouble on the surface then Namor tells Dorma to return home as he continues his way to the city and continue his mission.

“And so Namor dives into the ocean again - on his way to further adventures in his crusade against white men!”

Marvel Mystery Comics #2 opens with Everett directly saying that Namor is in a war against the white man. Not every subtle way to once again point out that Namor doesn't consider himself a white man, his father may have been white and passed on his skin color to his son, but Namor was raised among his mother's people and his mother's side isn't white. Yes, they are a fantasy race but they are certainly coded as a non-white people.

Marvel Mystery Comics #3 - Namor rages about the harm Betty Dean's people, "white devils", have done to his people.

“Hate you? Yes. I hate you - and with good reason! You White Devils have persecuted and tormented my people for years - just as you are killing each other off now, in this war!”

Namor speaks of his Tribe - Marvel Mystery Comics #4. By the way at this point in the comics, Namor and his people live in the south pole/waters. Namor also had an ice palace, or ice house. I won't say Namor is Inuit but I do believe inspiration was used for the submariners.

In golden age war era comics, which I know has lots of slurs and caricatures, but in this issue Namor is not a caricature but instead is mistaken for a Japanese soldier Sub-Mariner Comics #5

Namor being called ‘squinty’ by Hank Pym in reference to his eyes in Avengers (1963) #71. This term is derogatory towards Asian people who have monolids and is a known insult.

Namor is also described with "slanted eyes" - The Defenders (1972) #1

Nita (Namor's cousin) speaks about how similar Atlantean culture is to Asian culture. New Warriors (1990) #2 

Also, not all Atlanteans are white, they are shown in a range of different surface human looks when they come on land/take serum or potions to breath on land. So there is no excuse for this whole "Atlanteans are white" nonsense. Wolverine (2003) #44 

Namor is said to look Japanese in The Marvels Project (2009) #3

A twitter thread I found interesting and wanted to share talks of the the subject of Namor's backstory/being biracial/othering in fantasy media as discussed by Naomi Clark (source)

We have now established without a doubt that Namor’s original origins and moments over the comics through the years showcase that Namor is Not White, he was always written as as an ambiguously biracial native character. The Atlanteans are a fantasy race. Atlanteans are not a real, they cannot be White because they are not real, and as I’ve shown you they were never even White to begin with. The outcry by a number of “fans” that occurred when the casting for Namor was announced was made by people who do not understand the source material, their whining of “black or brown washing” is a tactic that often happens and all they want is to silence fans and fans of color, relying only on the surface looks of Namor’s white passing skin to hate on the new direction of the Atlanteans in the upcoming Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, so I implore fans to simply ignore those “fans” and remember that representation is important in comics and movies.

Live Action Namor as played by Tenoch Huerta

Was the coding in the comics something that we could call good representation of a Biracial Character by today’s standards? No, not really, but the fact that it IS THERE, and it’s been there since the beginning is worth attention.

What’s more there have been people who have seen Namor in various incarnations, in comics, in cartoons and were immediately drawn to his “Otherness” which is why it being represented in the upcoming Black Panther: Wakanda Forever makes it more important than ever before. Simply put, a white actor would have never been able to grasp the essence of Namor.

Kurly Tlapoyawa:

“It was on Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends,” Tlapoyawa tells Inverse, recalling the 1981 animated series. I was like, ‘That guy looks different,’” Tlapoyawa remembers. “He didn’t look like a white guy.” Namor’s otherness resonated through the screen to Tlapoyawa, who describes himself back then as “a young, angry Chicano” trying to figure out his place in the world. “If you look at the older comic books, it always talked about Namor and his war against the white man. That appealed to me as a Chicano kid — a non-white hero as one of the original Marvel heroes.”  (source)

Benedict Wong:

When I was watching all these Marvel films, I was always looking and feeling crestfallen. Where were all the Asian superheroes? I was pretending in my mind that the Sub-Mariner was actually East Asian, because he looked East Asian. Somehow I was trying to look for a hero.  (source)

Namor being played by a Native Mexican actor is more comic accurate than casting any white actor. Before the trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was released, back when the RUMOR of the Tenoch casting there was a rush of people trying to “cancel” Tenoch on Twitter and other sites, many insults, and bad faith arguments, even taking his words written in Spanish out of context to translate and try to paint him as a bad person. Once again racism in Fandom was trying to wage a war on Representation but luckily the majority of people have embraced Tenoch as Namor.

Namor will be played here by Mexican actor Tenoch Huerta, previously seen in The Forever Purge and Tigers Are Not Afraid – with this incarnation of the character inspired by the culture and history of Mesoamerica. “You can take Atlantis from Greek myth, or you can adapt from a real culture,” argues Huerta. Rather than the ruler of Atlantis, on the screen he’s the ruler of Talocan (source)

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will be the first Live Action debut of Namor the Sub-Mariner but unlike his comic counterpart, MCU Namor will not be from the Fictional Atlantis, but rather from a newly created mix of Mesoamerican Cultures/Countries, like how Black Panther’s Wakanda was the Afro-Futurism representation of several different African Nations/People so will the new Talocan represent a different take, one that will have a wide reach across the world. While I am not a Mesoamerican Historian, I do encourage people to learn/read more about the history and to understand that this is a fantasy take rooted in real history. This article talks a bit about that subject and how racism is often rooted in the Eurocentric take on Atlantis.

I could not believe it when I first learned that Tenoch Huerta was to play Namor, because it felt like I was talking to the wind for years trying to get fans and people to understand that we shouldn’t have a white actor for Namor, and there have been many fans who argued with me even after I would show them the proof within the comics. So to find out that not only was I getting a Native Non-White actor but one who is outspoken about the racism and stereotyping he faces for having dark skin it felt like Coogler had picked the perfect person to bring to life my favorite character because Tenoch would be able to understand Namor’s character. Namor’s struggle against American/White Imperialism, his Anti-Capitalist stance, his Eco-Warrior efforts to save his people and oceans from the pollution and corruption of the surface world and his struggles as a character whose home is constantly being destroyed. Namor is a proud flawed character, a prince, a king, but most importantly he cares for his people. So Tenoch reaffirming that we would not be getting a villain in the movie but a more complex take on this anti-hero is wonderful. Tenoch’s many interviews talk about how inclusion and representation is important and he felt the movie brought that with Wakanda, Namor and Talocan in the movie.

I am greatly looking forward to this new era of Namor and what it brings.

[skydalorian]

Seeking some help from fans of Garth Nix's Abhorsen/Old Kingdom series.

I posted this fanart of Lirael inspired by Nico Parker (ignore the misnaming in the post) to the Abhorsen subreddit.

There's a user there who is claiming that I've done wrong in how I've drawn her. They claim I've done POC a disservice by raceswapping.

I attempted to defend myself and my rightful pride in offering a fanart of mixed-race Lirael on a subreddit where that's severely wanting; Lirael is mixed-race: Nico Parker is mixed-race.

They seem little able to back up their critique and claims and go on a bit of a more than inadvertently self-deafeating and hypocritical tangent (seriously, even if you don't contribute, it's worth looking at for entertaining bafflement).

I don't feel in the wrong or seriously upset with my art (ike at all) but this was an irksome and downer start to my morning (insert a begrieved "but it's Christmas!!!!").

I'd appreciate any comments you might be able to add, any rebuttals, support, or conversation that might otherwise help this post be about something besides silent supprt for this dude's argument (they keep getting up votes, even if they're balanced with downvotes).

Anyway, tldr tear this fool apart.

Also here's the fanart in question:

[ah0yh0y]

friendly reminder that Audrey Rose  Wadsworth is poc and south asian specifically indian

[sanyu-thewitch05]

The Black community: Oh! We’re not being represented on television and movies! They’re casting light skins and biracials to play us! They’re choosing people with looser hair textures to play us!

Someone: Ok then, let’s acknowledge and say biracials aren’t black just because they have a parent that’s black. Let’s set a standard for what a Black American is.

The Black Community : “How dare you erase their blackness!”

“Blackness comes in all shades and textures!”

“If they have a black parent they’re black!”

“They experience the same discrimination black people face!”

“They won’t have anywhere to go since the white community don’t want them!”

“You’re just jealous cus they’re pretty! You’re insecure!”

Me:

[ashanimus]

white people shut the everloving fuck up about what appropriating peoples culture means challenge and just enjoy your goddamn sparkle dragons

[torinighthawk]

Harry Potter Head-canons (1/?)

First off let me just say that I have always and will always adore the actors and actresses who portrayed all our favorite and not so favorite characters, and the crew and directors who brought Harry Potter to life. They made magic real and their contributions can never be understated.

This is not about them though. It’s hard to remember but the Harry Potter films were made in a time before the current push for more and more representation, that’s not an excuse, just the facts (with the one exception that will be brought up, obvs). And the same is true for the books, though that is a whole can of worms I do not feel like getting into in this very positive post.

Representation matters. When POC voices say they need representation, listen. When we change media to suit that need, it’s not a dig at what came before.

That being said, I dropped out of the fandom a few years ago, and after heavy reflection I’m back, but on my terms this time, no one else’s, canon or not.

My Hermione Granger is biracial (like me). Her father, Robert, is a strong Black father from a strong Black Family with deep ties to their heritage and culture, and a drive for excellence in all things done. Her mother, who’s name varies from fic to fic tbh, is biracial too. She grew up in a very different but still loving family from her husband, with a Black mom who immersed her in Black culture and an Irish father who taught her how to fight for what she wanted, no matter what others had to say about it. Hermione grew up in a secure and happy home with parents and grandparents who gave her culture and valued and fostered her intelligence, and made sure she had a stiff upper lip to make it through other people’s bs opinion of her. She might falter, but she never breaks. Also, she really has a thing for older guys (Ron is the only exception and a total fluke).

My Harry Potter has heavy Welsh and Desi roots from James’ side of the family. Unfortunately, thanks to Petunia and Vernon he is constantly put down for both of these things and grows up without the rich culture his father had been born into and hoped to pass on to his son. The amount of Desi blood Harry has depends on the fic. The big one I’m currently working on has his father’s, father’s mother being full Indian. James’ father was adopted but his maternal aunt was still a huge part of his life and worked hand in hand with his adoptive parents to give him a life filled with his mother’s culture, which he passed on to James. Oh and he’s bisexual, it’s just that Cedric was the only guy in school that he really lusted after and we all know how that ended up. He and Ginny (who is also bi) love to occasionally rate celebrities and random strangers both male and female, its kinda adorable.

My Lavender Brown is Black. My one true bone to pick with the movies, is the one I think we all in the know have, with Lavender being Black until she became a main love interest for Ron and then was recast to a white actress (maybe it was incidental, maybe it wasn’t, doesn’t matter my brain fixed it). Lavender had two loving Black parents (I’m done with the broken home stereotype for Black parents can you tell?). After her failure dating Ron she finally came out of the closet as a lesbian and started dating Parvati. In most of my fics, Lavender survives (usually as a werewolf) and Parvati sticks with her and the two live happily ever after.

My Ginny Weasley (as stated above) is bisexual. She and Luna definitely had a thing going throughout their school time together and Luna was really there for Ginny in the last year of the war with Harry and the gang gone and all the stress. My Ginny is also a non-binary demigirl [she/they], not a tomboy, who starts to really explore her gender after the war is out of the way. Harry is a super supportive boyfriend/husband and he helps her through her gender diaspora during their pregnancy with some their children (which never gets easier so they switch to surrogacy).

My Ron Weasley really has a thing for POC women, he is completely incurable (thank merlin). Whoever he ends up with (in my head its not always Hermione) they are 10 times out of 10 going to be POC in some way. And he really immerses himself in whatever culture he has to to ensure his children grow up in their mother’s culture, no matter what they come out looking like.

My Remus Lupin is/was pansexual and was in love with Sirius most of his life. Part of his guilt and reluctance with Tonks is because of Sirius. I have very strong feelings about his werewolf nature (and werewolf demonization in general), but I’ll leave that to another post. I do still have Sirius die in most fics, but I believe there are worlds where these two make it every time and get to have some freaking peace and quiet together.

My Sirius Black is aro-ace and has only ever thought about Remus as a partner in those categories. Because he is emotionally stunted, he has no idea how to handle it and needs help to get a relationship started.

My Ted Tonks is Black or at least mixed race, and the only thing the Black Family hate about him is that he is muggleborn. Wizards do not care about colorism they way we muggles do, nor do they really care about sexuality and gender (Pure-blood families only care that their children procreate with other untainted people), they legitimately couldn’t care less. Totally headcanon that this has always been a point in contention of why Pure-blood Families see themselves as morally superior to muggles while missing the point of the other serious societal problems they have.

My Nymphadora Tonks is as genderfluid as her metamorphic abilities and pansexual. She never really had to think to hard about it and was pretty much born out of the closet. It helps really spice up her love life, especially her relationship with Remus. She’s aware of the Sirius thing and tries to help Remus through his grief and doesn’t really push him even though she’s hopelessly in love with him.

My Severus Snape is somewhere on the aro-ace spectrum, he doesn’t think about it much. I do love letting him live to have an actually redemption arc where he finally breaks the cycle of abuse.

My Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan are gay and in love. It took Dean longer to get there but Seamus is stupidly happy when he does. The two go on to raise an adorable little family.

My Theodore Nott is demisexual and not evil. He got out from under his father’s influence to great risk to himself and later became an Auror. He and Harry are good friends. He has a massive crush on Harry. Also, he dated Daphne Greengrass and Blaise Zabini at some point in his life.

My Blaise Zabini is gay. Very gay. Need I say more?

My Mrs. Zabini isn’t a serial murderess, she was cursed to love again and again and for all those she married to die horrible deaths. She has tried to go celibate but part of the curse is that she cannot. Blaise and Theodore Nott go on a side quest at some point to help break her curse, probably.

My Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy are both bisexual and occasionally enjoy the company of others in their bed. They’ve both probably propositioned Snape at some point. Draco, thank merlin, never finds out about any of this and goes his whole life blissfully ignorant of his parents wild secret lives.

My Draco Malfoy is on the aro-ace spectrum and finds certain people aesthetically pleasing but very rarely has any romantic or sexual feelings for them. He does however, like a good number of people do, have a crush on Harry at various points in his life. He’s emotionally stunted though so he acts like a child about it.

There’s more but I’ll leave it at that. If you want more info about the big fic I’m currently working on let me know. I may never actually write more than one-shots inside the world I built for it so it will be nice to get some stuff out for people to see. As for Next Gen headcanons I reserve those on a fic by fic, world by world basis so if there is a separate post for them it would be fic specific and not set in complete stone. I love to use my Next Gen characters to suit my needs for storytelling.

Bye.

[blackgirlgoblog]

Lightskin/Biracial men are the best and deserve representation

[aesterblaster]

The author casually including so many poc side characters + an interracial relationship (even if the relationship itself sucks lmao, sometimes relationships suck so Im not gonna be picky or claim it's racism or something) in 206...can be something so personal....

[rosecarlate]

It's still hard for me to choose which scenes from my Pilot script I love the most because I absolutely adore the outcome and the positive feedbacks I received from producers, writers and even experienced actors encouraged me to write the rest of the series and wrap the story in six episodes.

TRIGGER WARNING: DOMESTIC AND CHILD PHYSICAL ABUSES

The scene was one of the hardest to write and I wasn't sure to add these subplots to the main one for obvious reasons but I remember while I crafted the project, it clicked. I had to. It's a very serious and difficult topic that is family and relationship abuse and once you read the full script, you understand why they're part of the main characters storylines.

[god-u]

random but this showed up in my activity again cause someone liked a comment i made when i first saw it on tiktok and it made me think of when ppl were discussing how jordan and marie were casted

derek/london are both biracial and jaz is as well, but their parents are fully asian and hers fully Black

even though this is about a play, there’s no way so much of the casting in hollywood just happens that way. sometimes it’s just blatant racism and it makes me sad (and mad actually) for all of my friends fighting to get significant roles in the industry

[redd956]

Representation Matters

I am not Hispanic or of Colombian decent, or at least not that I know of. I do know that I am biracial with a white mother, and an African-American father. So I have crazy curly sometimes frizzy hair that patterns my head in large ringlets, and I have a mixed brown skin tone that gets surprisingly dark in the summer and stupid white in the winter.

My sister and brother are the same. My sister fell in love with another biracial person, a white and Hispanic descended man, and they two adorable children, my nephews.

Their children admittedly look white as day if there even is a way to look white. Hell one is even ginger since it just so happened to run in both sides of the family. But they do obviously have our curly frizzy crazy hair, and tan a good bit during the summer.

My two nephews are quite young right now. When I go to babysit I watch movies and shows that recently came out that intrigue me. I went by one day, and decided to watch Encanto. My two nephews playing on the carpet nearby, one who saw it before me, aggressively trying to spoil the plot.

The characters shimmied onto screen, dancing, and singing. I was bopping to the music. My youngest nephew peered over his shoulder, tablet in hand, and said:

“Look! They have hair like you.”

The second giggled and added, “You look just like that one”, pointing at Mirabel

A smile drew across my face. It wasn’t the first time I saw an animated character with my exact hair type, but it was the first time it hit me. I didn’t know how much I needed it. How much it mattered to me that I needed someone who looked like me. Whether it was my hair, my skin tone, the glasses on my face, my gender doing something I do, my orientation being properly shown, or just someone who was from my socioeconomic background.

But I needed it. I needed it a lot.

And there are many many many many more out there who need it.

So representation matters in that way. It does in many other ways. But to me that day it mattered to me especially.