Reflection and Analysis

AtLA: Zuko/Katara isn't Oppressor/Oppressed (8/20/20)

I'm bothered by the argument that Zuko and Katara is wrong as a ship because he's an oppressor and she is the oppressed despite the fact Zuko never had any direct connection with the oppression of her people, but in canon fought for some of those the Fire Nation oppressed.

This is like arguing a black woman can't marry a man who is ethnically white because those who are ethnically white have historically oppressed those who are of the African ethnicity, but this is also putting a German soldier from World War II who actively went against the oppression of the oppressed when he could in the same group as the higher ups who did nothing and the lower ranks who did nothing and just followed orders. I say the higher ups who did nothing because there were actually higher ups who did something when they could, using their political clout to do things which purposefully allowed the Jewish people to escape from German oppression.

Yet, in the same regard it is okay for Aang to be with Katara despite the fact he expects Katara to assimilate into his culture and give up her own which is another form of oppression for native people as they've been expected to assimilate to white culture and give up their own culture. Nobody questions either the fact Katara as a colored female has the right to choose who she wants to be with – that another person's political agenda shouldn't dictate who she is with.