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A Brief Look at How Detroit’s History Parallels Prejudice and Classism in the Wizarding World

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HPA chapters and members are summoning books from all corners of the globe to fill the Brightmoor Community Center’s Apparating Library in Detroit, Michigan. As Harry Potter fans, we care a lot about the major literacy issues facing Detroit – but that’s not the only reason we’re building an Apparating Library there.

Our Odds in Our Favor campaign has many people talking about economic inequality, a topic that Detroit knows a lot about. Nationally, the median household income in the United States is $53,046. In Detroit, it’s $26,995. That means that more than half of Detroit’s families are living on less than $27,000 a year.

Today, more than 20 percent of homes and properties in the Motor City are abandoned.  But Detroit wasn’t always a city haunted by Shrieking Shacks.

Image courtesy of http://www.treehugger.com/economics/detroit-files-bankruptcy-not-first-or-last-biggest-yet.html

Image courtesy of http://www.treehugger.com/economics/detroit-files-bankruptcy-not-first-or-last-biggest-yet.html

In the first half of the 20th century, Detroit was a boomtown, home to lucrative auto manufacturing plants with plenty of reliable jobs. When the U.S. entered World War II, those auto plants transformed into military manufacturing sites

Plants opened their doors to African Americans who migrated North in search of work, but Detroit’s white residents did not welcome their new neighbors. These new residents were segregated to the most crowded and unsanitary neighborhoods in the city. Growing racial tensions lead to an explosion of some of the bloodiest race riots in U.S. history.

At the end of World War II, military manufacturing dried up and city officials increased taxes to make up for the lost of revenue. Meanwhile, white residents flocked to the suburbs. Through the 1960’s and beyond, real estate brokers and banks maintained segregation in and around Detroit by refusing to give loans or show suburban homes to people of color.

Today, most of the manufacturing plants in Detroit stand empty. Automobile corporations outsourced their manufacturing to other countries, and nothing moved in to fill the void. Detroit now has the highest taxes in Michigan and one in six Detroiters are unemployed.

In the magical world of Harry Potter, it’s not necessarily money that that separates the wealthy and politically powerful from the disenfranchised; it is a system of prejudice and oppression. It is Slughorn’s shock that the talented Lily Evans was Muggle-born. It is the invisible barrier Arthur Weasley faces in his career because he values Muggle work. It is the long and undeniable history of violence toward Muggle-borns by purebloods, Death Eaters, and Ministry of Magic officials.

And so it is in Detroit. Talking about economic inequality in Detroit means talking about the official policies and unwritten rules that segregated neighborhoods. It means talking about what can happen when corporations favor profit over the well being of cities and employees. It means acknowledging the violent and ugly parts of our history and our present.

Accio Books 2013 muggles into wizards quote

Fortunately, it also means creating a chance for change. Cornelius Fudge and the Daily Prophet tried to ignore the problems the wizarding world faced. In the wake of their silence, Voldemort grew strong. It was only when Harry convinced the world of the Dark Lord’s return that action and justice became possible.

As you employ your book summoning charms, think about the kind of change you’d like to see the world. Then follow Harry’s example! Talk to your community. Find out who is working to fight illiteracy, economic inequality, racism, and injustice in your city. Think of ways to help. The Harry Potter community has already summoned thousands of books to the Brightmoor Community Center in Detroit. We clearly have magic inside us. Let’s show the world what we can do.

Books of all types can be mailed directly to:

The Apparating Library
℅ Brightmoor Community Center
14451 Burt Rd.
Detroit, MI 48223

And you can go to our website for more ways to get involved with Accio Books.

 

 


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