When the cast of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" was announced in December (open in new tab), it was revealed that black actress Noma Dumezweni will play Hermione. This is especially significant because J.K. Rowling herself has admitted for the first time that Hermione was never explicitly written as a white person in the Harry Potter series.

Of course, there is a segment of the internet that was not thrilled that a white actress was not cast, and that segment of the internet is racist. Because a) there is literally no other reason to complain about a black actress playing Hermione, and b) because J.K. Rowling says so.

In a recent interview (opens in new tab), the author said, "There were a lot of racists who said that Hermione had to be a white woman because she was 'white' - because she was shocked and the color disappeared from her face. But I decided not to get too riled up about it and to make it clear that Hermione could be a black woman, with my absolute blessing and enthusiasm."[5

First of all, even if Hermione were written as an explicitly white person, there is no reason why this role could not be given to a black actress. Second, the only way that Hermione's skin color (open in new tab) is described in the "Harry Potter" series is that she is a woman of color. See.

"They were there, sitting outside Florian Fortescue's ice cream parlor - Ron was incredibly freckled, Hermione was very brown, and they were both waving frantically at him"

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