Thank you. This is both fascinating and pretty damn apalling.
It really bugs me, the way I keep hearing "this is an American issue!" from people in countries that I know have an extensive history of both racism and slavery. In HP fandom, many fans compared the house-elves' situation to that of African slaves, and were shouted down with "Don't be stupid! JKR is British!" And all I could do was go "Bwuh? Do you think slavery magically appeared in the US overnight the day the Declaration of Independence was signed?"
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It really bugs me, the way I keep hearing "this is an American issue!" from people in countries that I know have an extensive history of both racism and slavery. In HP fandom, many fans compared the house-elves' situation to that of African slaves, and were shouted down with "Don't be stupid! JKR is British!" And all I could do was go "Bwuh? Do you think slavery magically appeared in the US overnight the day the Declaration of Independence was signed?"