Iāve previously stated that when people sayĀ āWhy have James and Harry as POC?ā itās fair enough to respond, āWhy not?ā but there are also some reasons that specifically drive me towards representing them that way. So, without further ado, hereās why I tend to view James Potter as a person of colour.Ā
(Please note that this isnāt about authorial intent, since Iām more than aware that JKR doesnāt exactly write with the purpose of people reading her main characters as POC. Itās more about how the narrative connects as a reader, as well as some personal preferences.)
Racially-Coded Language Directed At JamesĀ
[ā¦] Mrs. Dursley pretended she didnāt have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didnāt want Dudley mixing with a child like that. (PS1)
and, after Vernon claims James had been unemployed in POA:Ā
āAs I expected!ā said Aunt Marge, taking a huge swig of brandy and wiping her chin on her sleeve. āA no-account, good-for-nothing, lazy scrounger who āā (POA2)
Thereās a very specific trend in the way that the Dursleys speak about James.Ā āGood-for-nothing,ā as soon as heās introduced, a sentiment repeated by Marge.Ā āWastrelā in that same chapter of POA. And the way that Marge reacts to James being āunemployedā is very much akin to anti-immigrantĀ rhetoric, i.e. considering them a drain of public resources. Itās classist too, certainly, but thatās not divorced from racial dynamics. The great employment disparities in Britain occur among ethnic minorities. And thatās in recent reports. I can guarantee it was worse approximately 30 years ago, during the setting of HP. On top of that, the idea that the Harryās āothernessā can be identified on sight also reads like an allusion to race.Ā
He shot a nasty look sideways at Harry, whose untidy hair had always been a source of great annoyance to Uncle Vernon. (POA2)
Professor Flitwick was walking past a boy with untidy black hair ā¦ very untidy black hairā¦ Ā (OOTP28)
James and Harry share most of their features. The most prominent of these is by far Jamesās hair, which is consistently described as both āblackā and āuntidy.ā Neither is a trait exclusive to people of colour, but there certainly is a tendency for people of colour to faceĀ greaterĀ scrutinyĀ for the state of their hair. The Dursleysā view that havingĀ āimproperā hair somehow equates lacking societal worth is much along those lines. Itās not at all unreasonable to relate Harryās struggle with his hair as partly the product of his heritage.Ā
Dynamic Balance Between James and Lily
This one is a point of personal preference. Since we know so little about either James or Lily, itās hard to gauge what exactly their relationship was like. But I absolutely love the idea of James as a person of colour and a pure-blood while Lily is white and Muggle-born. Although thereās a claim that thereās no racism in the wizarding world (Iād question that, but thatās a different post), there certainly would be in 1970s Muggle UK. Itās an interesting dynamic to engage with ā James, completely unaware of why people would look askew his relationship with Lily even in the Muggle world. Lily, turning indignant protector for James, while people dislike him for his heritage. Itās all the appeal of a role reversal AU but built into canon-compliance.Ā
Presumption of DelinquencyĀ
For the space of a heartbeat both policemen imagined guns gleaming at them, but a second later they saw that the motorcyclists had drawn nothing more than ā
āDrumsticks?ā jeered Anderson. āRight pair of jokers, arenāt you? Right, weāre arresting you on a charge of āā (Prequel)
Harry preferred Little Whinging by night, when the curtained windows made patches of jewel-bright colors in the darkness and he ran no danger of hearing disapproving mutters about his ādelinquentā appearance when he passed the householders. (OOTP1)Ā
This oneās a bit more depressing, but itās something that I think holds true for many people of colour in places where they arenāt the majority. Whether in a local neighbourhood, with a police officer, or at an airport, itās easy enough to think of an instance of racial profiling. Being treated as a threat by people who donāt really know you. In James and Siriusās interaction with the police, up until that point theyāre smarmy, sure, but have made no indication that theyāre any kind of threat. They reach back in their pockets and immediately the assumption is that they have guns. Harry experiences similar profiling. In that same chapter, he talks about how some of the neighbourhood kids are afraid of him. Admittedly, heās got the Dursleysā badmouthing and the state of his clothing going against him, but James is well-dressed and cared-for and still treated as if he might become violent.Ā
Nuanced Representation Through James
This point is less about the text itself, and more about how interpreting James as a person of colour is beneficial to readers of colour. Although he sort of gets the least physical presence in the series, the things we do see inform us that heās got quite the story. Heās described, along with Sirius, asĀ āthe cleverest [student] in school,ā in POA, he becomes an animagus at the age of fifteen, and he saves the life of his worst enemy (who later sells him out to Voldemort). He dedicates his life to a war that his blood status exempts him from. And heās got obvious flaws as well! Heās arrogant, sometimes rude, and loyal to the point of being blind to the possibility of betrayal. Of all of the Maraudersā era characters, James has some of the most interesting characterization. In a series where people of colour barely feature, the idea that someone like James (and subsequently Harry) could be men of colour is very exciting.Ā
And, for what itās worth, I actually think itās kind of cool that James is so well-off financially. Itās not only a reversal of expectations with the earlier point of racially-coded insults, but also offers a version of an ethnic minority who doesnāt necessarily have a class disadvantage. And, if youāre on the Desi James train, it actually plays into a specific narrative of migration and employment for Indians in the UK prior to 1981. Racial discrimination and class do not always follow each other, and I think that disconnect can be jarring for those who consider themselves relatively privileged. Again, itās something I think is interesting to explore.
Again, this idea comes down to personal preference. Since James comes from a long line of mostly pure-bloods, that means that if he is interpreted as a person of colour, thereās an entire magical tradition that can come with that. All of the HP spells are Latin-based, but if you read James as Desi (as I do) then thereās the potential for Sanskrit-based spells! Indian wizard holidays! If Christian wizards celebrate Christmas, surely Hindu wizards celebrate Diwali? Or Muslim wizards celebrate Eid? Not to mention the cool idea of life-cycle rites coming into play. Iād love to see a wizard version of annaprashan, where instead of reaching for just books or toys, you could have Harry reaching for a wand for power, or the Mahabharata for courage. Not to mention that Jamesā family has a long history in potions, which actually seems closer to Ayurvedic medicine than chemistry. There are so many possibilities that come from seeing James as a person of colour. These are only a few examples.Ā
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