An open letter from Cho Chang

I especially appreciated this spoken word poem “An open letter from Cho Chang to J.K. Rowling.” I think it was not only clever and entertaining, but also that it draws attention to a lesser discussed issue. The issue of the presence of minorities in movies, books, and tv shows today (or lack-there-of) is a hotly discussed topic today. J.K. Rowling likely added in minorities characters in an effort to be inclusive and to avoid this sort of scrutiny, but the poet in the video does make the valid point that simply having people of color in the story is not enough, it is also important to pay special attention to the ways in which they are portrayed. She makes the point that the names “Cho” and “Chang” are both Korean last names, which indicates a lack of background research on Rowling’s part. Also, more importantly she brings up the point that Cho ultimately served as yet another representation of an Asian woman fawning over a white man, erratic, emotional, and ultimately unsuccessful. I think that this shines a light on the importance of how minority characters are portrayed, especially when one Cho Chang represents the whole of the far-east Asian population in the Wizarding World.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFPWwx96Kew