http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagicalNegro

(white negro, even more so!)

That’s the difference between Westerners fearing Harry Potter, and African fear of witches. In the West, it pretty much maxes out at the point of book burnings and books being removed from libraries. In Africa, there are enough people who believe strongly enough in the efficacy of magic, that people get beaten, shunned, killed.

I don’t know if they’re assumed to be witches also, and feared as a result, or if it’s like Asian superstitions attributing special properties to Rhino horn.

That’s the reason for the antagonism. That shit is nasty. It’s not all fluffy bunny wicca and alternative medicine, “Now with added cultural diversity”. 

And non-albino children get accused of being witches, and beaten, abandoned, or killed.

There are witch camps in Ghana, for women who have been accused and driven away.

Love all of her books.

I have no doubt that the author opposes the horrific and ongoing persecution of people with albinism, but the book’s premise would seem to be at least partially perpetuating a harmful stereotype about a group of people who are already woefully stereotyped.

However, should some one do that within the context of Yoruba for instance. Oh dear. People are suddenly concerned that this will just make “them” more savage.

Young people who are neutral, educated, or just learning about the world may develop more sympathy for a fantasy character who is heroic than they would for a victim character who is truly misunderstood, and may come to romanticize the difference.If you have a culture where people already fear witches, you have a culture where the magical thinking all young people engage in (maybe my brother got sick because I wished I had a sister instead, etc) is bolstered by an actual threat. A story on the other hand that challenges that narrative, lets them fantasize a world where they do good with that, and where the strange isn’t evil.I guess this is my point: Consider that the people here in the US who sincerely fear witches will possess their young through Harry Potter want all such books that “normalize” or “glorify” witchcraft banned. I think they’re partially right insofar as socialization goes. Fantasy, story telling, myth, acceptable tales of witchcraft and magic actually help form the boundary between what is real and isn’t, and can challenge the conviction that it is ok to kill people because you were told they were supernatural. The more strange something is, the more foreign, the more abnormal… the easier it is to treat with contempt or cruelty. 

This is why shock videos and pictures of people with COPD don’t do much to discourage fast driving or smoking. Most people just protect themselves with contempt and disgust for the unfortunate person or anger at the people showing the image.

Generally I’m of the “the only thing worse than talking about it is not talking about it” persuasion though.