One thing I have noticed - well, let me start properly.
I go to college in Phoenix, AZ. Everyone here is pretty much either Mexican or white or a mix. We have some Vietnamese, some Koreans, but most of them live in Mesa, inother parts of the city. We do have students from all over the world, but the majority of the population is white or Hispanic.
There is one type of student who really stands out. At some point - I don't know much about it - Az created a program to sponsor the Lost Boys. In the genocides of Africa, there were like two generations of Sudanese and Ethiopian boys left starving with no family, called the Lost Boys. So the AZ gov't brought them over, subsidized their housing, and gets them in school. So every once in a while you'll be walking around phoenix and see a seven foot tall boy, or man, depending on age, who is so black they're blue. They're quiet, with bright white grins and a quiet demeanor, and beautiful accents. Many of them have scars somewhere - on their faces, or arms. They seem unpeturbed by anything, they all want to work in medicine, and they are all, every single one I've met, straight A students. They never, ever talk unless they are spoken to, except among groups of themselves, where they all use their tribal languages.
We quickly learned not to talk to them about where they came from, because the conversation went like this:
Me: "Hi. Where are you from?" Student: " I am Yomimba. I am from Sudan." Me, trying to be friendly: "What brought you to the US?" Student: "When my mother and father and sister were chopped with machetes by the (insert paramilitary genocidal force here), the American government found us hiding under their bodies, and brought my brother and me here. " ::::horrified silence as I realize what the terrible scars on his arms are from::: Me: "Well, nice to meet you! Bye!" ::scuffling sound as I FLEE THE BADNESS:::
So, what would like at Hogwarts be like for a Sudanese boy? The danger, the threats, the social crap, either wouldn't matter or wouldn't even be registered. Threats to family or of physical violence wouldn't matter, because they've seen it. (You'd think they would be traumatised, but that's surprisingly not the case. The Sudanese and Rwandan refugees are very calm and composed - eerily so. The watch everything, but other than their eyes constantly scanning averything around them, you'd never guess what they have been through) There would be no disobedience, but no hesitation to do ANYTHING to stay and complete their education. They would not be afraid of or impressed by dangerous events or potions, dangerous weapons or animals, but family feuds and racial tension would perhaps merit extraordinariy caution and attention.
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Date: 2006-06-06 07:21 pm (UTC)One thing I have noticed - well, let me start properly.
I go to college in Phoenix, AZ. Everyone here is pretty much either Mexican or white or a mix. We have some Vietnamese, some Koreans, but most of them live in Mesa, inother parts of the city. We do have students from all over the world, but the majority of the population is white or Hispanic.
There is one type of student who really stands out. At some point - I don't know much about it - Az created a program to sponsor the Lost Boys. In the genocides of Africa, there were like two generations of Sudanese and Ethiopian boys left starving with no family, called the Lost Boys. So the AZ gov't brought them over, subsidized their housing, and gets them in school. So every once in a while you'll be walking around phoenix and see a seven foot tall boy, or man, depending on age, who is so black they're blue. They're quiet, with bright white grins and a quiet demeanor, and beautiful accents. Many of them have scars somewhere - on their faces, or arms. They seem unpeturbed by anything, they all want to work in medicine, and they are all, every single one I've met, straight A students. They never, ever talk unless they are spoken to, except among groups of themselves, where they all use their tribal languages.
We quickly learned not to talk to them about where they came from, because the conversation went like this:
Me: "Hi. Where are you from?"
Student: " I am Yomimba. I am from Sudan."
Me, trying to be friendly: "What brought you to the US?"
Student: "When my mother and father and sister were chopped with machetes by the (insert paramilitary genocidal force here), the American government found us hiding under their bodies, and brought my brother and me here. "
::::horrified silence as I realize what the terrible scars on his arms are from:::
Me: "Well, nice to meet you! Bye!"
::scuffling sound as I FLEE THE BADNESS:::
So, what would like at Hogwarts be like for a Sudanese boy? The danger, the threats, the social crap, either wouldn't matter or wouldn't even be registered. Threats to family or of physical violence wouldn't matter, because they've seen it. (You'd think they would be traumatised, but that's surprisingly not the case. The Sudanese and Rwandan refugees are very calm and composed - eerily so. The watch everything, but other than their eyes constantly scanning averything around them, you'd never guess what they have been through) There would be no disobedience, but no hesitation to do ANYTHING to stay and complete their education. They would not be afraid of or impressed by dangerous events or potions, dangerous weapons or animals, but family feuds and racial tension would perhaps merit extraordinariy caution and attention.
I'd love to see a character like that explored.