Racism against Native Americans has reached a new tipping point

While Native American protesters were being pepper-sprayed, shot with beanbags and arrested en masse by law enforcement in Cannon Ball, North Dakota, on Thursday, the Cleveland Indians were wrapping up Game 3 of the World Series; emblazoned on their hats was the franchise’s racist mascot — Chief Wahoo.

Over Halloween weekend, as protesters were recouping and taking stock of their diminished numbers, photos went public of Jason Walsh — the white boyfriend of actress Hillary Duff — wearing a feathered headdress, red face paint and a fringed leather tunic at a costume party in Beverly Hills.

These are just two of the many ways Native Americans and their cultures have been co-opted, caricatured and ridiculed at sports stadiums and Halloween celebrations across the country of late. It’s not a new pattern — but these incidents take on renewed irony amid the largest Native-led protests the United States has seen in decades. READ MORE

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“My God - Diggory!” it whispered. “Dumbledore - he’s dead!”

The words were repeated, the shadowy figures pressing in on them gasped it to those around them…and then others shouted it – screeched it – into the night – “He’s dead!” “He’s dead!” “Cedric Diggory! Dead!”

“Harry, let go of him,” he heard Fudge’s voice say, and he felt fingers trying to pry him from Cedric’s limp body, but Harry wouldn’t let him go. Then Dumbledore’s face, which was still blurred and misted, came closer.

“Harry, you can’t help him now. It’s over. Let go.”

“He wanted me to bring him back,” Harry muttered – it seemed important to explain this. “He wanted me to bring him back to his parents….”