"Are All Witches in TVD Black?"

Meta
Title:	Are All Witches in TVD Black?
Creator:	angryzen
Date(s):	Part 1: November 4th, 2010 Part 2: March 12th, 2011 Part 3:October 2nd, 2011
Medium:	online
Fandom:	The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Topic:	Lack of diversity in TVD
External Links:	Part 1: http://angryzen.livejournal.com/14444.html Part 2: http://angryzen.livejournal.com/20055.html Part 3: http://tvd-meta.livejournal.com/10327.html
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Are All Witches in TVD Black? is a meta in three parts by angryzen.

Part 1: Let Us Use Our Imagination

How many White vampires had we seen before we ran into Anna? She was the first non-White vampire we met, right? Or was it Pearl? Either way, before either of them was of course Stefan and Damon, Katherine, Lexi, Lee, and Logan. Am I forgetting anyone? All White. But I don't remember anyone asking if all vamps were White. It was kind of assumed that they weren't. Likewise if Bonnie had been White, no one would be wondering if all witches in TVD were White. That would just be seen as impossible, and everyone would use their imagination and say there are non-White witches out there (although no one would bother write them into the fics either). If Bonnie was White, we would have met her White grandmother, her White ancestor, her White cousin, plus a White witch named Bree in Georgia, and no one would question it. There would be no rolling of the eyes. Likewise no one would wonder, "Oh my goodness, are all White witches related to White Bonnie?" No, because that would just be impossible. Would anyone even joke about it? I think not.

Bonnie is the witch in the show, and she is Black. So any witchy family members will be Black. And you know what? I don't even care if all the witches she encounters are Black too. Why? Some Black people only have Black friends. Some Black people only have non-Black people of color friends. Her best friends are already White. So what if she only runs into Black witches? The friends on Friends only had White friends. How much of a stink was raised over that by viewers? I mean isn't it toats normal that White people only have White friends and only run into White people? Which reminds me: are all people in New York White? I never watched that show, but I've read more than once that it took years before they introduced a Black character (played by Aisha Tyler).

So you see I, Black young lady who loves witches and magic and will give any show that has a witch in it a chance, have had to use my imagination to include non-White witches in my witch serial t.v. such as Charmed and Eastwick. And I never complained. Never even rolled my eyes. So to all wondering if all witches in TVD are Black like it's a problem, I say use your damn imagination. I love that TVD has had five Black witches. I love that Bonnie is a Black witch because I don't run into those. A Black witch that has her own story? Can you imagine? Yes I can, but I don't have to with the vampire diaries! I can just use my imagination to write fic about her where I won't have to specify that she's Black or African American just so people don't automatically assume that she's White. Because they see her on the t.v.!

Wouldn't it be funny if the first White witch we met was evil? Oh my God, would that mean that all White witches in TVD would be evil?! Of course not! That's just absurd! White people are not a monolith!

I would not mind if we only ran into two White witches in the entire run of TVD. You know like on Charmed. And one of their Black witches got killed by the way. I don't think they ever had Asian witches on that show that was set in San Francisco. Asian innocents, demons, and humans yes.

I would like to meet a Hispanic witch next, yes I would. Preferably brown-skinned. Just so I can read the question, "Okay, so are all witches in TVD minorities?"

So are all witches in TVD Black? I. would. not. mind. Though I would like an explanation. But we're talking about the show that has yet to show Emily's (Black witch!) perspective of 1864. I'd bet everything I have that not all witches in TVD are Black. It would be very cool if they let the audience figure that out though. Just like the Friends producers let their audience figure out that not all New Yorkers are White.

I will end this with a very serious question and answer: Are all werewolves in TVD White? Are they all related to Tyler? I believe all werewolves are White and are related to Tyler, because we've met Mason who was a White werewolf and was related to Tyler, and we've met George who was a White werewolf and is Tyler's ancestor. It therefore follows that all werewolves are White and are related to Tyler. I will use my imagination to invent White werewolves who aren't related to Tyler as well as non-White werewolves.

Part 2: Let Us Use Our Imagination. *Revisited*

Ever since Bree jumped over that counter, some members of Fandom have been wondering if all witches in TVD-verse are Black. The problem is that it's not good kind of wondering that leads to discussion and productive speculation. I've seen those. It's the kind of wondering where it's actually a complaint. "But why are all the witches in TVD Black?" "It's reverse racism!" "The producers need to do something about this!" The Martins' debut into town gave new life to this annoying line of question. So are all witches/warlocks in TVD-verse Black?

Why would all of the witches in TVD-verse be one race? When the hell has that ever happened in any supernatural show? Even when they would only show us White witches in other witch shows, the viewers were just supposed to know that non-White witches existed. The producers seemed to be subverting something for a season and a half, and a section of Fandom were losing their shit. Because you know when they were asking if all of the witches were Black, they were really asking where all the White faces were. Because I do not think the issue would have been solved for them if, say, Anna had been a witch instead of a vampire. When Damon called Bree out as a witch, that seemed to be one Black witch too many for a section of the fandom.

Now it's one thing to hope all the witches and warlocks are Black. A story weaved like that would be interesting. It's one thing to not mind; it's one thing to question if they are. It's another thing entirely to panic that they might be just because 7 witches have been on the show and none of them have been White. And these people were speculating that maybe all of the witches and warlocks are Black because they're all descended from Emily. Because all Black people are related? Because it's beyond the realm of your imagination that 7 Black people could have the gift of magic and they're not all related, and 1 of them had nothing to do with any of the other 6? Can you guys believe some are still speculating that Bree might have been Bonnie's mother/related to Emily? What the fuck? Because it's apparently impossible to these people that the producers really introduced a random Black witch.

The Martins were the first warlocks we saw working with a vampire because they wanted something in return. And yet still the only way for them to get what they wanted in return was for them to do whatever the vampire wanted. We never saw the Martins tell Elijah to do anything. And even worse? The Martins literally couldn't survive without Elijah. That's the bigger problem. Jonas was smart enough to align himself with an Original vampire in order to try and get his daughter back, but he was not smart enough to come up with a plan b, c, and even d in case Elijah ever betrayed him, got killed, or any number of unforeseen possible events? I mean it was only his daughter's life on the line. The Black warlocks not only could not go on without the White vampire, but they textually did not. They died, and this, whether the producers meant to communicate it or not, tells people that it was in fact the White vampire who was the brains of that team. Without him, they could not think of anything other than getting him back. There was no future for them without him. Jonas could not even listen to Bonnie when she told him to think about what he was doing. If the death of his son was enough to make him go crazy like the producers intended for the audience to see it, then why was saving his daughter not enough to make him snap out of it? Without Elijah, the Martins could not even preserve themselves.

Part 3: Part.Freaking.Three.

It's downright demoralizing to know that when White people are in a space (a tv show in this case), it's accepted without question, no one needs to come up with a reason, their presence doesn't need to be legitimized by a damn thing. They can just exist. But as soon as people who look like me show up, there needs to be an explanation. They can't just be. Not where other people can see them. And if there's more than one? And they don't come in a group? Then everything needs to stop, because that's not normal. This person needs to know why so many Black people are parading on their screen. There has to be a reason why so many Black people have the gift of magic, and for this person? They explanation needs to be that they're related, because they just can't buy that Black people have magic, they're powerful and confident in their magical abilities, and they don't cower to vampires even when they're in servitude to them. And most of all, they can't buy that all these people who share the same skin color, the same BLACK skin color, are not related to each other.