Servants of Voldermort?

Who are these mysteriously nameless black faces that cloud almost every frame of Harry Potter? It seems that every person on screen who isn’t a character is some minority or another. In the picture above, from left to right, we have Fred, Ron, Hermione, Harry (who had just been hospitalized from Quidditch), and this black girl? Who is she? She certainly isn’t a character in the books, and isn’t really given any development (or name) in the movie. Is she in frame because she knows Harry personally like the other 3 do, and is seriously concerned with his health? Is it coincidence that she’s Black, or is there something more conspicuous at work? The photo below shows Seamus Finnigan, Fred and George, Harry, Hermione, Nevell, and more random minorities.

I’m not saying the J.K. Rowling is racist. On the contrary, she’s probably race-less. When she was writing the book, she was probably writing it for herself, or for her kids, and had no idea what a cultural phenomenon it would become, and wasn’t even thinking about race. Isn’t it more racist to be thinking about our differences at all times rather than none of the time?

Now though, when Warner Bros. fears the accusing fingers of the NAACP and wants to market Harry Potter to the widest audience possible, they insert these nameless Black and Hispanic extras, seldom with speaking parts, to let the kids know that you don’t have to be white to be a wizard. Partially this is a very good thing. It would be depressing and culturally detrimental to not have multi-ethnic characters in these films. Imagine a Black child watching an all-white Harry Potter movie. Could he dream of someday going to Hogwarts? All children aspire to be wizards, and all kids who see Harry Potter wish it was real, but it would appear impossible for a Black child to have these dreams if he got done watching a movie without any minority representation.

My complaint isn’t that there shouldn’t be ethnicity in the world of Harry Potter. My complaint is that they are stuck into the movie in such a blatant and obvious way that it is doing more harm than good. It is so contrived and forced that child or grownup, consciously or subconsciously, we are noticing it.