holymotherofrowling:
I decided to make a post in an attempt to explain white privilege, something I’m finally attempting to become aware of:
Based on a brilliant post by zorascreation
Imagine it is 100 years after the Wizarding War. Prejudice against Muggleborns has been prevalent even before the War. During the War, Muggleborns were rounded up, forced to register with the government, sent to prison, and often killed purely for being Muggleborn.
Fast forward, imagine Muggleborns have fought hard to establish greater legal rights in their society. They are now protected from some forms of discrimination.
However, prejudice against Muggleborns still runs rampant. They still are oppressed in society. The “Mudblood” word is still used in an attempt to hurt them. Trying to take back the slur “Mudblood,” Muggleborns have begun reclaiming it. They also have begun asking for more legal protections - legal protections that will not fix their oppression, that will not even make them close to as powerful as purebloods are - but will make the gap between Muggleborns and Purebloods in wizarding society a little bit smaller. Some Muggleborns may react in anger to their oppression - they might call purebloods Death Eaters or make up a word (but no word they can ever create will be half as hurtful as the word “Mudblood” - the word people like them were oppressed with)
However, this does not please some purebloods. How dare the Muggleborns ask for protections? How dare it be okay for Muggleborns to say “Mudblood,” when for Purebloods it would be considered offensive? They are angry. They make up a word for something they call “bloodism.” They put it in their dictionaries, and they define it as “the belief that any blood purity level is better than or should be treated different than another one.”
“Ha,” they say to the Muggleborns, ”You’re just being bloodist. You believe your blood purity level has characteristics that mean you deserve to be treated then us.” The Muggleborns are confused. After all, purebloods created the entire system of bloodism that now pervades wizarding society in the first place. The purebloods point to their definition, ignoring the fact that they created that definition in the first place, saying, “You’re just being reverse bloodist. We’re all the same, really. You should just be blood-blind.”
(via neighborly)
